When Someone Gets Hurt
by Whenfithitstheshan67
Summary: *WARNING* Chapters 3 & 4 are kinda HC-ish so ladies rejoice. Ch. 7 is a bit fluffy aswell. Sequel to When Simplicity is Lost. After failing an operation, Chiron believes that the Strike Team needs assistance for an up coming op. Does he have a hidden agenda? Crappy summary, I know. But trust me it's good. Rated M for language, blood/gore and other jolly stuff like that.
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note:**__** OK, here we go with round two. I hope this first chapter is enough to keep you guys wanting more! Comment/review!**_

Big Luke

I was in the worst spot of my life: a school dance. However, I wasn't there to dance. You see, I live at this place called Camp Half-Blood where kids like me go to stay safe and learn how to defend our selves. Last summer, the activities director of the camp; his name is Chiron, asked me to set up this Strike Team to give the camp an advantage in the war that we are in.

This team consisted of a track athlete, Brandon Collins, who was our Combat Engineer and a son of Athena. He wasn't with us that night at the dance because he lived on the other side of the country. You see, Camp Half-Blood is located in New York and Brandon lives in Portland, Oregon during the regular school year.

The other member of our team was behind the scope of a sniper rifle somewhere outside freezing his tail off in the snow. His name is David Yang and he is the best shot at camp. He has great vision, he once spotted me from almost three-hundred yards away hiding in the bushes wearing a ghillie suit. He's that good. He was able to fly in for this operation since he lived much closer to camp in Indiana.

I was standing next to one of the most beautiful girls I've ever had the pleasure of saving. Her name was Brittany Hughes, daughter of Aphrodite. My team saved her and her ten year old brother, Mathew, from a school in Portland, Oregon last summer. I didn't originally want her to be with me that night, but she kind of blackmailed me into bringing her along ever since she learned that we were going to a dance. Our Strike Team was supposed to be super top-secret to all of the other campers but we had stashed her and her brother in our Kill House for a night last summer. After a few weeks of being around us, she figured out quick that nobody was supposed to know that the group existed. She used that to her advantage when she threatened to spill the beans to everyone at camp our secret.

"Fine, you can go. But you have to wear this," I said holding up a bullet-proof vest.

"Not a chance. That won't go good with my dress," she replied.

The dress was short and black. It was held up by spaghetti straps and her feet were in three inch heels. Not ideal tactical apparel. The black was a start but she still had a long way to go before she was "operation ready".

Brittany was almost twenty; had long blond hair that was tied into a bun and had the clearest blue eyes. She had grown an inch over the time she was at camp. She now was six feet tall.

She even felt the need to dress me for the occasion. She managed to squeeze my six-four, two-forty frame into a white, button-up shirt tucked into a set of black slacks and a skinny black tie. I had body armor under the shirt and my custom built 1911 holstered on my right hip. The holster went on the inside of my pants and the shirt covered the dark-wood grips and stainless steel frame. I had two spare magazines on my left side tucked under the shirt as well. I had a radio in my pocket with a earpiece like you might see the FBI or Secret Service wear going over and into my right ear. The receiver part of the communications equipment was attached to the collar of my shirt. I was wearing dress shoes that came from my dress blues back at camp. We were way over dressed, most kids that were there wore typical teenager clothing.

You see, before I ever made it to camp, I was deployed as a Marine. I learned the ways of MCMAP (pronounced Mic-Map, stands for Marine Corps Martial Arts Program). I served my country and made Corporal when I was wounded in combat. I was sent home to stay at my grandparents house on the bayou of Louisiana until it was overrun with monsters and I fled North to New York. At camp, Chiron had me teach the hand-to-hand combat class because of the training I got from the Corps.

"Red 5 to Hawkeye: how's it looking out there?" I said into the receiver.

We used call-signs that were associated with heroes from different medias to hide our identities and the identities of different objects that were associated with the mission. It was Brandon's idea last summer. Brandon was MacGyver, David was Hawkeye and I was Red 5 who, I'm told, was Luke Skywalker's call-sign in _Star Wars. _Brandon thought it was real funny because I never saw the movie.

"Hawkeye to Red 5: It's cold and white," I heard him squeak through my ear piece.

"I know, bro. Do you have eyes on Peter Johnson Actual?" I asked.

The mission that night was one that we were not used to. We were to take over-watch on a operation pulled off by another set of campers. This set of campers consisted of Thalia Grace, Grover Underwood, Annabeth Chase and the big man himself, Percy Jackson. Peter Johnson was Mr. D's (the camp director) nickname for Percy because he didn't like him, or anybody else for that matter. So we figured it would make a good call-sign for Percy.

Percy had gotten a message from Grover who was undercover as a student at Westover Hall. Percy, Annabeth and Thalia were going to meet Grover at the school. Our job was to oversee the operation and only lend a hand if it was absolutely necessary. Brittany and I had gone undercover disguised as dance-goers so we had eyes on the inside of the building. David was positioned outside, camouflaged in the snow with his M110 sniper rifle.

It was slightly humiliating if you thought about. We were supposed to be the best of the best that the camp had to offer and here we were... babysitting.

"Still no eyes on Peter Johnson Actual," David replied.

Brittany and I were in the gym standing off to the side watching people dance as we waited for Percy's team to show up. Even though I was the tallest guy in the room, it was hard to see in the dark gym. Brittany just sighed.

"Why don't you dance with me?" she asked.

"Because I've got a job to do. Besides, I dance like a chicken with Parkinson's anyway," I said.

"I'll lead then. Come on," she beckoned.

"You better do it, Red 5. You remember what you told me in the bank last summer?" I heard David squeak through the earpiece.

I remembered my own advise well. _Hell hath no fury like woman scorned._

"You really want to dance?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go," she replied as she pulled me onto the dance floor.

I was nervous... and I don't get nervous. I'm not a dancer and it was a fast song. Brittany put a hand on my shoulder and put her other hand in my hand. She put my other hand on her waist and we basically stepped in a square. We started out slow and we eventually went a little faster. I had to look down to make sure that I didn't step on her feet.

"Is this all you know how to do?" I asked her.

"No, I was on the dance team and a gymnastics team in high school. I'm just not willing to teach you everything I know in a matter of a few minutes," she said. "You never learned how to dance?"

"They taught us how to fight and kill in the Marine Corps," I replied. "Dancing was not high on their priorities list."

"What are you going to do on our-, your wedding day?" she asked as I was still looking at my feet.

"Wing it."

Brittany had a thing for me. I never really understood it. Normally, hero syndrome wears off with a little time, but Brittany's case seemed to be going on a bit longer than I expected. My guess is it is something her mom is doing but what do I know. We continued to dance until I heard David call over the headset:

"Hawkeye to Red 5: I have eyes on Peter Actual."

"Good copy, Hawkeye," I replied.

"What did he say?" asked Brittany who didn't have an earpiece.

"He said Peter Actual is inbound," I told her.

"Peter Actual?" she said with distaste.

"Yeah, you know: the real reason we are here," I said.

"What do we do now?" asked Brittany.

"We dance. They will eventually make their way in here, I think," I replied.

"You think?"

"I think a lot," I grinned.

She just rolled her eyes and we started spinning slowly in circles. Brittany had put her arms on my shoulders and I put my hand on her waist. With every revolution of our spinning, I looked at the door to the main hallway waiting for the three demigods and the satyr to walk in. I had spotted Grover Underwood a little while ago but I didn't know where he went. The group eventually found their way into the gym. They sat there and talked for a minute and discussed a plan of action. At one point, Thalia shrugged her shoulders and mouthed something along the lines of _act natural_.

She grabbed Grover's hand and started dancing. It looked like it was the girls teaching the boys how to dance because Thalia was leading Grover and Annabeth was leading Percy when they finally decided to start dancing.

"They look like a great couple," mentioned Brittany.

"No way. Thalia and Grover? That's just weird," I replied.

"No, not them. Percy and Annabeth. Sure, she's taller than him but that doesn't matter. It's all about the chemistry," she said.

"Not exactly, it's what ever your mom says it is."

We kept dancing in circles and watched as the tall guy moved into the gym. Percy's eyes went wide as he watched the tall guy move around the room. He tried to "act natural" but it wasn't working out for him. I saw the tall guy grab two kids in the back of the gym and hurry them out the door when Percy wasn't looking.

"Gotta go," I said as I tried to leave but Brittany grabbed my arm.

She looked at me in the eyes and told me, "Be safe".

"I got this," I winked at her and headed for the door that the tall guy went out of.

_Walk with a purpose and people don't ask questions._ It's a philosophy that I had come to respect. I made it out of the gym and moved in on the tall guy who was walking with the two kids. He didn't hear me until I was on top of him. The guy was much taller than me but he buckled like a tree when I jumped on his back. He landed face first and the two kids ran off. I tried to go for my gun but couldn't reach to untuck my shirt. (_**I'm considering this as the noise that Percy heard before running out into the hallway).**_ The tall guy had flipped me over and was on top of me. His tail came up and I punched him in the face. He rolled over and I was able to get away as he chased me down the hallway.

I rounded a corner, just barely missing being impaled by the thorns that he threw from his tail. I found a storage closet and climbed inside. I reached down and pulled my shirt from my slacks and drew my gun. The black slide of the 1911 slid along the plastic holster with very little noise. I held it with two hands as I took it off safety with my right thumb. I held the gun down and waited for Thorny to make his way down the hallway. I had the door cracked ever so slightly so I could hear, trying to slow down my heavy breathing.

"My name's Percy. I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe," I heard Percy say down the hallway. His voice was muffled like he was facing away from me.

Thorny showed up a few seconds later. I heard Percy talk to Thorny and he eventually left as Thorny's prisoner, I couldn't interfere because of my orders but I could put David on them.

"Red 5 to Hawkeye: I have one manticore with Peter Actual and two kids, possible half-bloods, held hostage. They are heading outside in the snow, probably towards the cliff. How copy?" I radioed to David as I headed back for the gym.

"Good copy, Red 5. Scanning for manticore and Peter Actual with two possible half-bloods," he replied.

I re-holstered my 1911 and made sure my shirt was covering it. Then I made my way into the gym. I found Brittany sitting on the bleachers with a disappointed look on her face. I felt bad for ditching her but I didn't want her getting hurt on my watch.

"Where's Annabeth and the rest of them?" I asked.

"Annabeth is looking for the rest of them. She's over there pushing through the crowd."

She pointed and I could see Annabeth walking around with a distraught look on her face. I could see Thalia and Grover still dancing in the corner of the gym. Grover had this funny look on his face like he was trying to hear something but couldn't over the music _**(Empathy link)**_.

"OK, I need you to go up to Annabeth and tell her that Percy is outside and that her friends are over there," I said pointing to Thalia and Grover.

"Why me?" she asked.

"Because she doesn't know you as well as she knows me. Would you please go talk to her?" I asked again.

She let out a big sigh and got up and trudged over to where Annabeth was. She put some falsetto act on like she just happened to notice her frantically looking around and that her friends were over in the corner. I saw her pointing to the corner and to the door that lead outside the gym into the cold. Annabeth had a weird look on her face like _Who are you?_ Then she left Brittany standing there in the middle of the dance floor.

Brittany walked back over and asked, "Happy?".

"A little," I said.

We waited for Annabeth to regroup with her friends and left through the door that Brittany had pointed to. We followed their lead and walked in the snow a little ways, Brittany was slow in the those heels and I practically had to drag her along for her to keep up. We couldn't see the other team but I was following their tracks in the snow.

"Red 5 to Hawkeye: what is your position?" I said into the receiver.

"Right behind you," I heard David's voice behind me.

I turned around and David was standing there in a white ghillie suit that we had to special order for this one mission. The ghillie suit was being inflated by a large parka and heavy snow-pants. He looked like a heavy-set Eskimo who graduated Scout Sniper school from the fluff of the jacket and the ghillie suit. His M110 sniper rifle was covered with white tape to help camouflage the weapon. Since last summer, I had taken the liberty in getting him a suppressor for the noise. We drew too much attention from the police in Portland from the sound of gunfire echoing through the suburbs. He had taken the hood of the ghillie suit off, exposing the black stocking hat under it. The left side of the hat bulged out from his headset.

David was a short guy, only about five-six and one-forty. He was Asian and real feisty when you got him agitated. It was usually short lived.

"Where did they go?" I asked him.

"I saw Annabeth, Thalia and Grover walking through the woods but I had to change my position when they moved out of sight. They were heading that way," He said pointing towards the cliff.

"We can't be spotted by them. We'll hide somewhere in the bushes and maybe you can provide covering fire from there," I instructed.

"I am _not_ laying on the ground in this dress!" exclaimed Brittany.

"Get over it," I said and we trudged to the left of Annabeth's path.

I walked near David and whispered next to him, "This is the last time I bring a daughter of Aphrodite on a op."

"I hear you there," he replied.

We continued to crunch through the snow. There was an eerie quietness to it. No Birds chirping or squirrels running around. Classic behavior for animals in the woods. They were not used to humans so they avoided us. Squirrels and birds who are accustomed to people are not afraid to show themselves.

David was constantly looking through the scope towards the cliff where he thought he would see the demigods. We made it to a certain spot and David held up a closed fist, hold position. He dropped next to a bush and I knelt behind a nearby tree. Brittany just stood in the open and I had to pull behind the tree with me.

"Ow!" she exclaimed.

"Shh!" I told her as I knelt back down behind the tree.

David was adjusting his scope and I peered through the trees. I couldn't really see anything since we were so far away. We certainly had the advantage with Davids optics but I was still relying on what he told me.

"Annabeth, Thalia and Grover are already there and they are engaging the manticore. It's hard to get a clear shot," whispered David.

"This is why we need to upgrade everyone to guns. Fights would go so much faster and be so much more efficient. At this point, you take the smallest opening you can find," I whispered back.

It was a delicate balance, we needed to engage but we couldn't do it so openly. I was getting impatient as I often did. David was just laying prone, slightly moving the rifle from side to side as he tried to find a good shot.

"I think I have a chance," he said as his finger pulled the slack out of his trigger.

The muscles in his hand just clenched up when the Hunters of Artemis went running in around us. I dragged Brittany into a bush to try our best to stay hidden but it really wasn't necessary. The hunters just ran around us, didn't even bother with us. David had pulled his rifle down and put his face in the snow trying to hide in plain sight. The goddess Artemis stopped for a brief second eying me since I was holding Brittany's arm. I tried to smile but she just had this silver fire in her eyes and I let go. They ran into battle and David got his rifle back online.

"Dang, they can shoot," he said, starring in awe through the scope. "They have the manticore at bow-point. It looks like they are having some kind of discussion, oh wait! "

"ANNABETH!" we heard Percy's scream through the woods.

"Oh, no," the three of us said in unison.

"Annabeth went off the cliff with the manticore!" exclaimed David.

"Why didn't you shoot?" I asked, but it came out a little snappier than I had meant.

"I don't know, it just happened so fast," he said.

He pounded the snow with his fist. He kept pounding and cursing at himself. He was really beating himself up over what happened. The truth was I probably felt worse than David did. I was supposed to keep everybody safe. And now I had failed.

"Look, don't beat yourself up over it. You said it yourself, it happened too fast," I told him. "What are they doing now?"

He looked through the scope, "They are standing around talking. Percy's still on the ground. It looks like Artemis is calling someone."

A huge bright light came through the scope and quickly followed to my eyes. The light eventually died down and David opened his eyes.

"It's my dad. He brought the Maserati this time. Oh, now it's a bus and they are all getting on," he relayed. "He's letting Thalia drive."

"That's my Que, right?" said another voice through my headset.

The voice came from my car. A project that I had been working on for sometime now, my baby. The car could talk through artificial intelligence. Her name was KATE.

"Yes it is, KATE. We will meet you on the road by the school," I said into the receiver.

"I still don't like her," said Brittany who was kind of jealous of KATE. KATE didn't catch on.

KATE is a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T, at least her body was, just about everything else was redesigned and replaced. Her AI system was still being developed but she had come along ways since Brandon and I first programmed her. She could look up anything I asked her to and could drive herself anywhere I asked her to. I still had to operate her guns and defense system on my own or who ever else was in the passenger seat while she was moving. KATE had four M61 Vulcan mini-guns that hid behind the headlights. 1968 Chargers had these panels that retracted when you turned the lights on, exposing the bulbs. With KATE, sometimes they were headlights, other times they were the M61's. Her trunk was full of guns and ammunition. We made it out to the road and there she was, sitting in the middle of the street; doors open waiting for us and her engine made the earth at our feet quake.


	2. Chapter 2

David

I stared as Big Luke gawked at his car. Sure it was nice and fast but it was still just a car. I found it really creepy that it talked, especially since it was a female voice.

KATE was gloss black and had two bronze stripes that wrapped around the tail section, they were inlaid to the steel body. In the snow, the car had the parking lights on. Big Luke knew cars, and for a guy who always wanted to stay low-profile, he couldn't have picked a worse car. The thing was the size of a boat, but could turn and stop on a dime. We had left camp after Percy had left for his trip and we still beat him to the school. We actually passed his mom's car on the way up at around 280 miles per hour. That's right, 280 miles per hour! That's because Big Luke had installed a super powerful engine. One so powerful that he had to reengineer the entire drive-train. He even had to redesign new brakes so he could stop the thing.

"OK, we have to go," said Brittany.

Big Luke snapped out of it and moved for the driver's side and climbed in. Brittany walked over to the passenger's side and flipped the front seat so I could get in the back seat. She had a very sad look on her face, I don't think she had fun at the dance.

The seats were black leather and there was a center console with a aftermarket parking break. Big Luke gripped the wood steering wheel which had three, large, stainless steel spokes connecting in the center. The shifter had a white ball style knob like you would see in any old muscle car, however this shifter went all the way to eight for eight speeds. None of the gauges worked but the current speed and revolutions per minute were displayed on a hologram right above the dashboard in blue characters. Big Luke released the parking brake and put the car in first.

"KATE, we need to get back to Camp Half-Blood. Could you bring up the map please?" asked Big Luke in his Cajun accent.

A map instantly covered the entire windshield and our route was highlighted on the screen.

"Here it is, Jon Luke."

Yeah, KATE isn't good with nicknames. Big Luke didn't seem to mind as he studied the map. People called him Big Luke because he was six-four and two-forty of all out muscle. I'd even seen him bench a engine block once. He was strong and could swing his weight around if need be. He had a military style haircut and his body armor made his shirt sit funny.

"OK, KATE. Please, minimize the map and lets get going," Big Luke said as he turned the car around and started driving for camp.

KATE had an autopilot function but Big Luke preferred to drive himself. I think he found some kind of therapeutic remedy from it. He was a good driver (Or a bad one if you ask Brandon). He used to run moonshine for a family friend in his younger years before he ever left for the Marine Corps. He was a real redneck and was proud of it. One night, his mom and step-dad were arguing and Big Luke came at him. He put Big Luke on his butt and that's when he left to join the Marines. That night his step-dad killed his mom and his son covered for him with a fake alibi. He told us the story last summer in a McDonald's parking lot. He had made it his life's mission to find his step-dad and step-brother and kill them for what they did to his mom.

"You owe me," said Brittany.

"For what?" asked Big Luke.

"You owe me a dance and a new dress. You can take me this weekend," she demanded.

"This weekend? Is there even a dance this weekend?" said Big Luke as he continued to drive the car.

The dynamics of their relationship was weird. Big Luke acted like a father figure to her brother and he helped Brittany find her place at camp. The two of them often hung out in the shop after Brandon and I went away to school. She liked the time she could spend with Big Luke. She was constantly wanting him to do things for her, she made him get an ATM card last summer amongst other things.

"Yes! And I want a nice dress," she said.

"Nice as in expensive?" asked Big Luke.

"Yeah, duh," she replied.

They continued to bicker and I couldn't help but chuckle at the conversation they were having. Big Luke didn't yell (or speed for that matter) but Brittany was practically screaming at him. KATE had switched Big Luke's frequency on his radio and started talking to me about Big Luke and Brittany's argument.

"Why is Brittany aggravated at Jon Luke?" KATE asked me through my earpiece.

"Because Brittany was hoping to dance with Jon Luke and he cut it short when the manticore took the kids. Then he drug her out in the snow and into a bush," I whispered into the microphone on my headset.

"Doesn't she know that the mission comes first?"

"Well, of course she does. She's not exactly mad at Jon Luke. She wants someone to complain to and Jon Luke is the easiest target."

"What does she find attractive in Jon Luke?" asked KATE.

"I got nothing for you there," I replied.

Big Luke and Brittany eventually stopped arguing and I fell asleep as I often did on car rides. Unlike most demigods, I didn't have crazy dreams. Except last summer, I had my first one with my dad. Thinking back now, I wish I had interpreted what my father was trying to tell me. That particular information could have come in handy, but in a way I was glad I didn't. Otherwise that night could have turned out really bad, for all parties involved.

I felt my shoulder shake and I was looking up at Brittany's face.

"We're home. You can get out now," she said, still unhappy.

"Where's Big Luke?" I asked.

"Over here, bro," said Big Luke who was sending an email on the computer he had in the shop under our Kill House.

The Kill House was a big sixty foot square building that we used to train. It was two stories and made from large sheets of plywood and other building materials. The first floor was a makeshift interior of a building that could be rearranged anyway we wanted. The second floor was a web of catwalks and one platform along the left side where we planned operations and cleaned our guns most of the time. There was a staircase that bent around the corner to the left side when you first walk in. This led to the catwalks and the platform.

I climbed out of the car and closed the door. I think I slammed it too hard because KATE calmly told me in her monotone voice "Please do not slam my door".

"Sorry," I responded. _Fuck, that is creepy._

I moved over to the trunk and opened it. I had put my M110 in it while in the back seat. The back seat of the car could revolve around, exposing several guns and other weapons strapped to the trunk side of the seat. I walked over to a table near Big Luke and put my rifle down. I went over to the mini-fridge and grabbed a Coke. On top of the fridge was a cleaning kit and I picked it up. I carried the items to the table and started breaking down the M110. The Coke tasted good as I sat in my parka and snow-pants. Then I realized that I was still wearing them and took my ghillie jacket and my parka off. Brittany had gone up stairs after telling Big Luke and I good night. We had gotten back to camp a lot later than Percy's team did but we always got in late. We figured we would debrief with Chiron in the morning.

Despite what Big Luke told me, I still felt like crap that I didn't pull the trigger on the manticore. I could have saved her life if I had just done my job. Normally my reaction time was much better, I didn't know what came over me in that moment. I knew there was no way she could have survived and I was responsible for her death. Gods, if Percy ever found out that I could have saved her if I had just pulled the trigger, he'd probably kill me. I felt terrible. I decided that I would apologize to him the next day for his loss. Expressing my grief for letting her die but not incriminating myself in the process.

Big Luke had finished the email and sat at the computer with his face in his hands. He wasn't crying but you could tell he was stressed. He rubbed his eyes and ran his hands through his hair. I didn't know what he was stressed about. I knew that he felt responsible for this operation and what happened to Annabeth but I was the one behind the trigger. He had never lost a man (or woman) while he was in command at camp. He took it personally whenever someone got hurt or almost killed. Last summer, Brandon took a round in his plate carrier and Big Luke killed the mercenary that pulled the trigger as brutally as he could. All Big Luke had was a knife and a broken arm.

If you really wanted to pick a fight with him, he didn't care if you were seven foot, three-hundred pounds with a machine gun. He would take you on no matter what. Brandon often called him reckless, Big Luke would just respond with "It isn't reckless, it's just ability".

"You doing OK?" I asked, still cleaning my M110.

"Yeah, fine," he lied.

"It isn't your fault. I was the one behind the trigger," I told him.

"It doesn't matter, I should have gone in. I should have forgotten the orders all together and just gone in," he replied.

"You know Chiron would have your head if you did that," I said.

"It would have been worth it," he came back.

I often wondered if Big Luke was suicidal. He was constantly willing to give his life to save others from perish.

He got up from the computer and walked over to the fridge and pulled out a Coors, a sign to me that he was about to clean a gun. He popped the top and carried a cleaning kit over to the table where I was sitting. He un-holstered his 1911 and dropped the magazine into his palm. He looked at the side where there were eight holes to count the remaining rounds. All eight still accounted for, not a single round fired. This just made him feel worse. He set the mag on the table and pulled the slide back and the unused round spilled out onto the table top. We cleaned our weapons in silence and when we were finished we headed back to camp to our cabins. I slept like a baby for the remaining four hours of night.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note:**__**OK, these next two chapter's are written in Brittany's point of view. Basically, this is my poor excuse to write in a girls perspective (I'm a dude, BTW). If a line or two have a little "baggage" to it, I'm sorry. But in my defense: Girls don't exactly come with a instruction manual.**_

_**On the positive side: Homecoming is coming up for most high schools in the U.S. so I really like the timing for these next two chapters. Ladies: Your opinions are very much appreciated!**_

* * *

Brittany

So, the next day we woke up and went to breakfast. Chiron pulled Big Luke aside and talked him for a few minutes. Chiron didn't look too happy and Big Luke looked tired, like he hadn't slept last night. I suppose I was too hard on him last night about my dress and the dance. He wasn't taking the failed operation well, his shoulders slouched and he kept his hands in his pockets. He couldn't let his head fall to the floor though, he held his head high and looked Chiron in the eyes. It was a short conversation and Chiron did most of the talking, Big Luke just nodded his head. Chiron asked if he understood and Big Luke just responded with a quiet "Yes, Sir".

After the short talk with Chiron, Big Luke moved over towards the Apollo table like he was going to talk to David about what Chiron said. He was carrying a magic cup that the camp had that could fill itself with any drink the user wanted, It looked like Big Luke's had strait, black coffee. I didn't think he knew what he was doing because he couldn't talk about Strike Team business openly in front of everyone. So, I stood up in front of him, blocking his path.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked as casually as possible.

"Just gotta talk to David," he said like he was on the job.

I leaned in closer, I had to stand on my toes so I could get close enough for him to hear me.

"You can't talk to him in the open. Remember?" I whispered in his ear.

His eyes lit up like he realized what I was saying.

"Right," he said. "Thanks."

"How much sleep did you get last night?" I asked.

"Not much," he replied.

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Mathew who was on the bench next to where I was sitting.

"Nothing, little dude," responded Big Luke. "You want me to teach you how to shoot today?"

"Yeah!" he exclaimed.

"He's too young to be learning how to shoot," I told Big Luke.

"I'm almost eleven!" protested Mathew.

"Ah, 'Almost eleven' he says. I was pulling triggers since I was knee-high to a short pup," said Big Luke.

He looked at me with his brown eyes. The left side of his face was turned up in a smirk and he was still standing real close to me. I looked down at Mathew, he had a big smirk across his face too, Big Luke was teaching him too much. I looked back at Big Luke.

"Fine," I sighed. "Cans only. No pistols or machine guns and no bigger than a .22."

"Deal," said Big Luke.

"Deal," copied Mathew. "Can you teach me how to drive after that?"

"No," Big Luke and I told him in unison.

"Let me know when you get your learners permit. Then we'll talk," said Big Luke with a smile.

"Don't give him any ideas," I told him.

I had pretty much raised Mathew on my own. Our dad was always working and I was the only one he had. I acted like I didn't like it, but in reality, Big Luke was a big help. The way they hung out together was just like my dad and me when I was growing up. Big Luke let Mathew help him build KATE, teaching him all about tools and building things. I thought back to my youth, my dad would always let me help with changing the oil in his car or working on projects around our little house. That all ended when baby Mathew came along. I didn't resent my brother, I resented my mom. She had dumped so much in our laps and it was hard at first, but I got the hang of it. Even after all that, I wouldn't want it any other way. I love my brother.

"Meet me in the arena after your classes during free-time. I'll teach you then," Big Luke told Mathew.

* * *

I didn't take many classes at camp. I was a gymnast and a dancer, not a soldier. I spent most of my time on the lava rock wall, but I also took Big Luke's hand-to-hand combat class. Those were the only things that required anything remotely similar to gymnastics.

That day in Big Luke's class, we were taught how to defend ourselves against several knife attacks. Of course none of us had knives on our persons but Big Luke knew and had brought out several rubber knives for the exercises. He taught us that the first step was always to block the strike or get the blade away from your body. Big Luke's normal punching bag, Brandon, was still in school for the winter so Big Luke demonstrated on one of his automatons. I always wondered why he never took the robots on their little operations that they do. When I asked him he replied that they were designed for training and that they wouldn't be good for actual combat, that's why we often trained on each other.

"So, when he tries to stab me with his right hand," he told the class as the automaton slowly stabbed at Big Luke with a rubber knife. "The first thing I'm going to do is grab his wrist with my right hand and pull as I get out of the way to my left," he instructed us he demonstrated on the robot, going through each step so everyone could see. "Next, I'm going to put my left foot in front of both his feet and simultaneously pushing right up here on his arm below his shoulder and above the elbow."

He forced his hand on the robots arm so it fell over his leg, face first. Big Luke put his left foot on the automaton's shoulder and lifted on its wrist.

"Just like that. Now, he can thrash all he wants but if I keep holding his wrist and keep my foot on his shoulder. He cant go anywhere without breaking his arm. This is the same for the other hand, you just use a different hand and foot. Now, your going to partner up and try this on each other for ten reps each person. Start slow and speed it up," he instructed as he got to his feet.

We broke our line and I found a partner, Big Luke.

"You know, I should be watching everyone to make sure their doing it right and not killing each other in the process," he told me.

"They'll be fine. Now, bring it, Sensei."

Rather than Big Luke getting ten reps on me, I did twenty to compensate for the other kids in my class. With most of the camp at home and going to school, the class was much smaller. When we were finished, Big Luke showed us the next maneuver. We continued to practice until the end of the class where we went into free time.

I had pinned Big Luke for the fiftieth time that day so at the end of class, Big Luke just called "Have a nice day!" from the ground. He was laying on his back with his hands behind his head and he had his feet crossed as he stared at the sky. I lied down next to him and mimicked his pose.

"Your still going to teach my brother to shoot, right?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I just got tired of getting up, so I'll wait for him from down here," he said it like there was something else on his mind.

"You know there was nothing you could have done, right? With last night?" I said.

"That's not it. Chiron seems to think that Annabeth isn't dead. He does still think we failed however. We had to oversee that operation and make sure it went smoothly. We messed up. He wants to bring in another team, put us together on some joint operation. He thinks that I need more people," he told me.

"That's a good thing, right?" I asked.

"I prefer a smaller team, less people to worry about and you can operate at a lower profile. Besides, joint operations suck. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians."

"When is this new team getting here?" I asked.

"Not till summer time. He doesn't think that anyone here now could rival us," he said as he stared at the sky.

"Well, that's not till summer. You still have a few months. Cross that bridge when you get to it. Did David head back to Indiana?"

"Yeah, he got on a plane sometime after breakfast. I think he had to talk to Percy about something before he left," Mathew walked into the arena. "Sup, little dude? You ready to go shoot something?"

Big Luke was still on the ground and he had to look up to see Mathew. He held out his fist and Mathew bumped it with his.

"What are you guys talking about?" he asked.

"Just everything under the sun," I said.

Big Luke stood up and lent his hand to me. I took it and he hoisted he up with so much force that he had to catch me so I didn't fall over. We left the arena and headed into the woods where the team had their big plywood building (Kill House they called it). It was cold and there was snow on the ground. I was bundled up in a sweater, scarf and stocking hat and Mathew had his winter coat on. Big Luke had this big flannel coat and his patrol cap that he always wore at camp. We walked in through the front door and we stomped the snow off our shoes on the "Welcome Home" mat that was just inside the door. Big Luke pulled the trapdoor open under the stairs that led into the underground shop and we walked in.

"Good afternoon, Jon Luke," said the car.

"How you doing, KATE?" asked Big Luke.

"I am operating with limited difficulty," replied the car.

Big Luke just chuckled and replied with "That's good".

He walked over to a pegboard with guns of all shapes and sizes. I had seen a couple of them before, Brandon's MP5 was up there and so was David's M110. Big Luke pulled two guns from the wall and reached under a work bench and picked up a box of ammunition. He pointed his hand with the ammo at the stairs and we moved back outside in the cold.

Big Luke had set up a bunch of soda and beer cans on a log outside. We stood about ten or fifteen yards from it as Big Luke held the two rifles he took off the wall. One I hadn't recognized the other I knew all too well. The one I recognized was a Ruger 10-22. A semi-automatic, .22 caliber rifle. Of course it wasn't stock, Big Luke had put a collapsible butt-stock and used a large banana style magazine. The other rifle was more basic, a bolt action .22 with a synthetic stock and a small scope. Both guns had suppressors. He set the 10-22 down and unloaded the the other. He held the gun with both hands and knelt down next to my brother.

"This is your bolt, you lift on this and pull straight back. It doesn't take much. Just put pressure on the front of the bolt handle and it will slide right back. When you first pick up a gun, check to make sure it's not loaded. Look down the chamber and use your finger to check it as well. Same with the magazine. All ways point it in a safe direction. Basically anything you wouldn't mind blowing up or killing," he said as he demonstrated to Mathew, pointing the rifle at the cans on the log. "Then to load another round, you just do the opposite. Again you don't have to put much force into it, OK?" he said as he handed the empty gun to my brother.

Mathew put his hand on the bolt handle and did just like Big Luke showed him. He did it a couple times and handed it back to Big Luke.

"OK, so when you rack the bolt and put another round in the chamber, it is ready to fire. No need to take it off safety just pull the trigger," Big Luke tightened his grip on the gun. "I want to make this absolutely clear. You don't pull this trigger unless you are one-hundred, ten percent sure you want to because once you do, you can't take it back. Got me?"

"Yes," replied Mathew.

"OK, good," he said as he ruffled Mathew's hair. "Also, always treat a gun as if it was loaded, even when you know it's not. Now, lets get to shooting it shall we?"

Big Luke reloaded the weapon and opened the bolt.

"Minus the rounds in the mag, this is the safest condition for the rifle. All safeties can fail," he held up his right index finger. "This and your brain are the two best safeties of any weapon."

He handed the rifle to my brother and Mathew closed the bolt. He pointed the gun at the first can on the left. He held it as still as he could and pulled the trigger. The snow behind the log exploded in a small cloud of powder. Clean miss.

"Close," I said from behind the both of them.

"Reload and try again," instructed Big Luke.

Mathew racked the bolt and pulled the trigger. The round struck the can towards the top so it back-flipped off the log and into the snow.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Mathew.

"Let me shoot one," I begged. I couldn't let Mathew have all the fun.

Mathew handed the gun to Big Luke, bolt open and Big Luke turned so he could see me. I walked up to his right side.

"You ever shot a gun before?" he asked.

"Yeah, an ex-boyfriend used to take me shooting every now and then."

"Ex-boyfriend?" asked Big Luke.

"Yeah, I had a life once you know," I replied.

Big Luke just shrugged and handed me the rifle. I closed the bolt. It slid like butter, it was amazing how smooth it was. I looked down the scope and put the cross-hairs on the next can. I took a deep breath and as I was about to pull the trigger I heard a:

"Don't miss," from Big Luke. Mathew laughed.

"Hello!" I said as I had lost my concentration.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," said Big Luke with that big grin on his face.

I just rolled my eyes and put the reticle back on the can. I took a deep breath and as I exhaled, I slowly pulled the trigger. The gun went off and the can fell over. The recoil of the .22 was minimal and the gun was near silent with the suppressor.

"That's how it's done, boys," I said as I opened the bolt, letting the spent .22 casing fall to the ground.

"Yeah? Well, watch this," said Big Luke as he drew his 1911 and dropped the next three cans like it was nothing.

The sound of the .45's echoed through the woods. Birds flew out from trees. Big Luke reholstered his gun and looked at me.

"_That's_ how it's done," he corrected.

We spent the rest of the day shooting at cans and went back to camp.

* * *

_**Author's Note: I know they didn't actually go dancing in this one, but they will in the next one. Trust me and keep reading!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note:**** OK, I'll admit. this one's a little more HC-ish than the last one. They actually go to a dance in this one.**_

Brittany

It was finally Friday afternoon and Big Luke and I were going dress shopping. I was hoping that it would get his mind off all his problems. We got in his car and Big Luke told it to open the ramp. The ramp leads out of the shop onto a dirt road from the Kill House to the country road that went past camp.

We headed into downtown New York City and I started looking around for a dress shop. Big Luke just drove the boat of a car around until we stopped at a red light. This supt up Honda Civic pulled up next to us and rolled down the window. The guy in the driver seat was some college kid with mighty rich parents. He was around twenty years old and he had one hand on the steering wheel.

"Nice car," the driver said. "Know what it does in the quarter-mile?"

"It does around five or six," answered Big Luke.

"Minutes?" he guy returned.

"No, seconds. Definitely seconds," I said.

"You wanna test that?" the guy asked as he revved the Civic's engine. The motor made this horrible screeching sound. Big Luke was eying the hood and the exhaust pipe out the back. He had this disgusted look on his face like _You _so _did not do this shit right._

"Your gonna lose," said Big Luke.

"I don't think so. Prove to me that piece can do five seconds in the quarter-mile and I'll give you a thousand dollars," the guy was real confident that his car was faster and was willing to put his money where his mouth was.

"I don't have a lot of money. If I lose what do you want?" asked Big Luke as if he was worried... which he wasn't.

"Her," he said pointing to me.

"Get lost, creep," I told him.

"Yeah, not happening. I got five-hundred, I'll bet that. Your thousand still stands?" asked Big Luke.

"Yeah," the guy answered.

Big Luke rolled up the windows and put the Charger in first.

"Would you like me to change all of the lights green for the next quarter of a mile?" asked the car.

"You read my mind, KATE," replied Big Luke.

"No I didn't. I merely estimated your next request," she replied.

"You think you can beat this guy?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. Piece of cake," he replied cockily.

Big Luke held the brake down with his toes and used the heel of the same foot to floor the accelerator as he dumped the clutch. The rear wheels spun on the pavement and tire smoke lifted around us.

The engine rumbled before it screamed a throaty noise. I could see what Big Luke was thinking, _Now, that's what an engine is supposed to sound like._

He took his foot out of the gas and reengaged the clutch. He had done the same thing last summer to give the truck we were driving some more traction. Spinning the tires on the pavement made the tires hot form the friction, they become softer and can grip the road better.

The lights turned green and Big Luke punched it as the car lurched forward at an incredible speed. I could see the speedometer over the dash increase rapidly. The civic was far behind us when Big Luke's car said "One eighth mile covered. One eighth more".

City blocks raced past us as we shot further and further away from the Civic. I could see up ahead cross-street traffic starting to move. If we didn't slow down soon we would crash into them. I looked at Big Luke. He had the calmest look on his face as he shifted gears. I could feel my stomach being pulled back into the seat as we raced down the street.

"You will not be able to stop before we run into the cross-street traffic," said the car.

"When I tell you to Dukes it, do it," Big Luke instructed.

We were so close to the traffic now but Big Luke never let up on the gas. We were ten feet from a soccer mom's minivan doing around three-hundred miles per hour or more, when Big Luke calmly said "Dukes it".

The front end of the car launched off the ground and the rear quickly followed. I put my hands over my eyes because I didn't want to see what would happen next. I had that feeling when you're on a roller coaster and your stomach crawls into your throat. I heard a "Yee-Hawwwww!" from Big Luke and I felt the car slam to the pavement again. I felt the car spin to the left and roll backwards until it finally came to a complete stop.

"It's over. You can look now," said Big Luke.

I opened my eyes and I could see the cross-traffic only they were pointed the other direction.

"What did we do?" I asked as my knees were shaking.

"We just jumped over that vein of traffic, right there," said Big Luke, grinning from ear to ear.

I punched him in the arm.

"Don't you ever do that again!" I told him.

"I cant promise that. That was way too much fun," he said still laughing to himself.

The traffic cleared and the Honda pulled up along side of the car. He was on Big Luke's side as he held out his money with his jaw hanging open.

"What was, how did you? Huh?" he was confused at what he had just seen.

Big Luke just took the guy's money with a "Thank you, kindly". Then drove off like nothing ever happened. We found a dress store and Big Luke parallel parked. You could tell that he didn't do it very often because it took him a while to get it right.

We walked in the store and I began to browse through the wide selection of dresses. Big Luke stood at ease with his feet shoulder width apart and his hands grasped behind his back. Eventually he got bored and found a seat on a couch and twiddled his thumbs.

I grabbed a cart and picked out several dresses. There were just so many to choose from. I moved over to the dressing room that Big Luke was now sleeping by. He snored quietly to himself as I stepped into the room. I changed out of my camp clothes and I slipped into the first dress. One similar to the one I had the other night only hot rod red. I stepped back out of the room barefoot. Big Luke was still asleep on a couch they had in the store. I kicked his leg and he woke up instantly.

"How do you like this one?" I asked him.

"It looks fine. How much is it?" he asked.

"I don't know, you have enough. I'm going to go in and try on a few more," I told him.

"How many more?"

"I don't know... couple," I replied as I walked back into the room.

I took the red dress off and put on the next one. A black top with a real poofy purple bottom that didn't quite pass my knees. I stepped out and Big Luke had fallen asleep again. He was apparently over his stress temporarily so he could get some sleep. Either that or dress shopping was really that boring for him. I kicked his leg again and he woke up just like he had before.

"Hows this one?" I asked.

"Looks fine. We done yet?"

"Not yet."

I spent another two hours trying on dresses. Each time I came out, Big Luke had fallen asleep again. I put on my fortieth or fiftieth dress and walked out.

"How's this one?" I asked as I woke him up.

"Look's fine," he replied. "Are we done yet?"

"Yeah, I think I'll get the other one," I said.

"OK, sure. Whatever you want," he said groggily.

I walked in the dressing room and picked up the first dress I tried on. The short, red one. I took the one I was wearing off and put my regular cloths on. I walked outside and Big Luke was on his feet and stretching his arms. We checked out and headed back to camp. The dance wasn't until tomorrow night and we would come back.

* * *

The next night, we snuck out of our cabins into the woods. We grabbed the Charger and headed for New York City again. We found the place no problem since we used the navigation system. I think Big Luke avoided using it yesterday because he didn't want to go dress shopping which I understood. _What guy _really_ wants to go dress shopping?_ We parked in a parking lot nearby.

"You smell anything in there, KATE?" asked Big Luke.

"I detect no monsters in the building," she replied.

"OK. Lock the doors and don't let anyone in but us," He replied as he got out of the car.

I got out and walked over to him. I threaded my arm through his and we walked to the door. We didn't have to pay anything to get in because I used Charmspeak. Only a few spawn of Aphrodite have it and, I'm not going to lie, it came in handy sometimes. I don't use it very often because it makes me feel dirty and guilty.

I chose this particular event because of the genre of music: Classic Rock. I couldn't find a dance that was going to play Southern Rock or Country which is what Big Luke always had playing in his shop. We walked onto the dance floor and a song that Big Luke recognized was blasting from the speakers.

"Oh, hey I know this song! They gonna play any Skynard or Cash, tonight?" asked Big Luke over the music.

"I don't know, maybe," I replied.

When we were in Maine, we were easily the oldest people there. Now, we were definitely the youngest. Big Luke was a lot livelier than he had been in Maine. I think it helped that he wasn't on the job. He was trying out moves that he had probably seen on TV. He still couldn't keep his eyes off his feet, though. We came to a slow song and we slow danced for it. I had my hands behind his neck and he had his hands on my waist.

I wanted to take Big Luke out because he deserved a little fun. I feel like he grew up too quick and I just wanted to bring some happiness into his life.

"You having fun?" he asked as he watched his feet.

"Can you look me in the eyes?" I asked back.

"If you want to keep your toes, I do," he replied.

I lifted his chin so he had to look me in the eyes. He had this weird look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied sharply.

"You're thinking about what Chiron told you. About that other team," I said. I could hear in my voice that I was getting angry. The Charmspeak was starting to kick in a little bit.

"Don't be mad. I'm sorry. Let's keep dancing."

I grabbed his chin to look him in the eyes. I didn't know what possessed me to do what I did next, but I kissed Big Luke in front of the gods and everybody. To my surprise, he kissed me back rather than nearly bite my tongue off like he did last summer when I grabbed his broken arm. I pulled away and opened my eyes.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I don't know. Did it make you feel better?" I replied.

"A little," he answered with the slightest of smirks.

Big Luke checked his watch. I knew it was getting late but I wasn't sure by how much. I was having such a great time that I didn't want it to end.

"It's almost 0-2 hundred hours," he announced.

"What is that in English?" I asked.

"That's two in the morning."

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"Tell you what: we will dance one more song and then we will go. Deal?" he returned.

I just nodded and put my head on his chest and we slow danced to the next song. Whether it was fast or slow, I didn't care. I was just living for the moment. We rocked back and fourth in and around the other people on the dance floor. The song ended and I threaded my arm through his and I felt the grip of his gun poking in my arm. We walked outside and I leaned in close to him.

"Are you packing?" I asked.

He just nodded.

"Why?"

"Never leave home without it," he said with a big grin on his face.

We continued to walk towards the car as we crossed the street. Of course, we couldn't just have one night without any trouble. And we did have trouble.

Five muggers walked up to us when we made it to the other side of the street. One had a gun, a pistol. The others had a even combination of knives and baseball bats. Big Luke stepped in front of me as we were backed up against the wall. We stood under a single streetlamp and I was looking around for cops, none. We were in this by ourselves. Big Luke did his best to look tough and unphased by the intimidating weapons and could do it well. His eyes were wide and he was scowling. Occasionally he would purposefully twitch his left eye. He looked crazy intimidating with that look. He held his hands at his side and kept his head high and confident.

"Can I help you fellas?" he asked.

"Cut the crap and give us your money or die," demanded the guy with the gun.

"You point that piece of yours at me and you're in for a world of hurt," threatened Big Luke.

"Who do you think you are? Mike Tyson?" said one with a bat.

"No, I'm his worst nightmare," said Big Luke with the most confident voice he's ever had.

The guy with the gun lifted it up to Big Luke's head but he grabbed the barrel and twisted it towards the center of the guy's body. Big Luke twisted it the other way, catching the guys finger in the trigger guard. The guy wailed in pain as two of his buddies came at Big Luke with their knives. Big Luke kicked one of the knifes out of guy's hand and I used one of the techniques Big Luke showed me. The one where the attacker is in a arm bar on the ground.

What he didn't tell us is that the technique doesn't work when there are multiple attackers. I almost got clubbed with a bat but Big Luke blocked it and punched the guy in the face. He dropped the bat and Big Luke had the guy's gun to the first guy's head which was in a choke hold under Big Luke's arm.

"You guys done yet?" he asked calmly, finger on the trigger.

The remaining guys took off running and Big Luke let the guy go. I got off the guy I had pinned. They ran off in the same direction as their buddies. One ran into a pole because he was not watching where he was going. I couldn't help but crack up laughing as his buddy peeled him off the pavement.

"Does stuff like this always happen to you?" I asked.

"Every now and then. I dealt with it more overseas than I've ever had to in the states," he responded as he unloaded the handgun that was still in his hand. Then he dropped the gun down a storm drain.

"Why didn't you draw your gun?"

"It wouldn't have done much good. It's loaded up with Celestial Bronze cased ammo. It wouldn't work against those guys anyway."

I shrugged and we walked back towards the car. Just as we did when we left the dance, my arm threaded through his. We made it to the car and there were two guys laying on the ground by the car. Possibly unconscious or maybe dead.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"These two men tried to break into me," answered the car. "I charged my doors using a small amount of electricity to incapacitate them."

"So, you tased the fuckers," translated Big Luke with a crooked grin on his face.

"Yes," the car responded.

KATE's doors popped open slightly and I pulled the passenger's side open and climbed in. Big Luke got in the driver side and put the car in first. There was no need to start the car because she started herself. As we headed out of town and I slipped my heels off to rest my feet atop the dash. I watched the telephone poles pass by as we moved along down the highway.

"You have fun?" asked Big Luke who was watching the road.

"Yeah, minus the fight at the end. What about you?" I said.

"I'll admit, it was better than Westover's dance," he replied as we headed home.

* * *

**_Author's Note: I just kinda threw in that last fight scene because i felt it needed a little more trash talking and action. Please review! thanks!_**


	5. Chapter 5

Brandon

It was a couple weeks before the end of my junior year in high school. The weather was warming up and I would have to leave to my "other life" soon. I was about to take the baton in a relay race. I had my Lincoln High School jersey on at the meet. I laughed to myself as I waited. Roughly sixty yards away was the big CATS logo on the football field that I had parachuted down onto just last summer. My school's track team had a meet at Winnebago, or Westview High School.

I was waiting for my best-friend, Alex, to give me the baton so I could finish the race. I was spinning my lucky, bright yellow livestrong wristband around my right wrist. Alex and I had been friends since middle school. We both joined the track team when we were freshman at Lincoln. We were both sprinters in the four by one-hundred and I ran the last leg of the race. I watched as he came around the curve. I got in my stance and held my arm out behind me, waiting to accept the baton.

"Go, go, go!" I heard Alex say behind me as I felt the baton hit my palm.

I grasped the stick and took off on my hundred meter sprint. My technique was just as I was coached. I stayed relaxed and kept my strides long. My hands were in two very loose fists and my thumbs rested on the side of my index fingers. My arms swung back and fourth as if I was hitting a nail with a hammer behind me. I ran on the balls of my feet which quietly thumped the track below them. I breathed in and out as I sprinted for the finish, adrenaline pumping through my body. Complete ecstasy.

I was gaining on the Westview kid who was in front of me. I kicked my legs into high gear and came rocketing past the Westview runner. He wasn't going to give up that easy, he sped up and we were neck and neck. We were ten yards from the finish line when I felt my toe catch on the track. I fell face first but my instincts kicked in and I tucked into a roll. It didn't help the outcome of the race any, but I'm sure it looked cool as I came up on my feet. The Westview kid walked up to me after he won, trying to catch his breath. He extended his hand and I shook it as I tried to catch mine as well.

"Good job," he wheezed.

"You too," I replied.

"Dude, what happened? You had it in the bag!" exclaimed Alex who had seen me go down and raced to see why.

"Dude, I don't know. I just tripped on the track," we never called each other by name.

"Looks like you need to run in the sand more," said a familiar voice behind me.

I turned around and Big Luke and David were standing behind the spectator's cable. I walked up to them and held up my arm as if I was going to arm-wrestle Big Luke. He mimicked me and grabbed my hand. We pulled our shoulders into each others and Big Luke nearly knocked what little wind I had out of me. I did the same with David. Our typical greeting.

They were both dressed to stay low profile, Big Luke wore a navy long-sleeve, button-up shirt and khaki cargo pants, despite the late spring/early summer temperatures of Oregon. His right side bulged slightly as if he had his gun on him. He was still wearing his black combat boots which were partially disguised by the legs of his pants.

David had jeans and a white long sleeve shirt with the sleeves pushed up. Over that he had a green T-shirt. He had a cheap digital watch on his left wrist. On his feet were the whitest Nike shoes I'd ever seen. He looked like he just woke up as if he had been traveling.

"What's up guys?" I asked. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We got a problem at camp," said David.

"Is this the summer camp that you always go to during the summer? In New York?" asked Alex.

"Yeah. Uh, David, Big Luke, this is my friend Alex. Alex, Big Luke and David," I introduced my friends.

Big Luke extended his hand and Alex shook it. He winced in pain from Big Luke's grip. Big Luke let go of my friend and Alex shook David's hand.

"Nice to meet you," said Big Luke.

"Likewise," said Alex.

"So, what's happened at camp?" I asked.

"DC told me that BC is getting some help," said Big Luke in code.

DC referred to Chiron, sort of like the Strike Team's commander in chief. BC stood for Bad Company which we used as code for Strike Team. He basically said that the Strike Team was going to have a joint operation with another team. We were emailing back and fourth and he never mentioned this before.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Alex.

"Alex, what would you do if I said I was a son of the wisdom goddess, Athena?" I asked.

"I'd say your crazy. Your not any smarter than me," he replied.

"OK, just checking," the truth was I was smarter than Alex, I just let him say that so I don't have to waste energy proving it to him.

"How soon can you make it to NYC?" asked Big Luke.

"Well, how long are you in town?" I asked back.

"We plan on being back by noon at the latest tomorrow. Can you afford to leave tonight?" he asked.

"Yeah, I can meet you at PDX later," I said.

"No need. We can pick you up at your house," said David.

"You got a car?"

"Yeah, '68 Dodge Charger. You'll hear it a mile away," said Big Luke with a big smirk on his face.

* * *

Later that night, I was sitting on my couch waiting for the door bell to sing its tune. I had changed out of my track cloths and was now ready to travel. My attire consisted of my normal brown cargo shorts and a black T-shirt. My suitcase sat by the door with all my stuff that I would need at camp. I had already told my dad that I would have to leave for camp early. He knew all about the Greek gods and how Athena was my mom. However, he didn't know that I was on the Strike Team. He didn't know that I was running all over the country playing Navy SEAL with a sub-machine gun. Shooting at monsters and completing objectives. The way he saw it, I was just helping the camp prepare for a war that I would have no part in. I never had the courage to tell him about it. I didn't think he could stomach the thought of his little boy in combat.

I was as tall as my dad, about five-ten. We had similar features only he had slightly longer hair which had grayed over the years. His face was all ways clean shaven and his skin was very white. I had a tan from being in the sun all the time for track. My dad was a software engineer and had his PhD in Computer Science and his master's in Mathematics. Needless to say, he was a smart cookie. He taught a Computer Science class at Portland State on Friday nights and worked at his regular job during the rest of the work week.

I was watching a program on the Discovery Channel about the Kennedy assassination. I found it interesting to hear all of the theories around the assassination. My dad walked in through the front door and sat on the couch, his messenger bag still on his shoulder. He leaned his head back on the couch and stared at the ceiling with a big sigh.

"How was the track meet? Sorry I couldn't make it," he said exhausted.

He was wearing a short-sleeve button up shirt and khaki pants. He never wore a tie except for special occasions, like my cousins wedding last spring. He slipped his walking shoes off with his feet and put his hands behind his head.

"It was all right. I tripped at the last second and the Westview guy won," I said. "Tough day at work?"

"Kids these days can do, find, research anything on the internet. But you tell them to troubleshoot problems in HTML or C++ and they look at you like a deer in the headlights," he replied. "When are your friends getting here?"

"They should be here any minute now."

We kept talking about the latest news and anything else we could think of. The conversation eventually came around to Camp Half-Blood and what the big issue was that I had to leave school early.

"They are having problems with this project they got going on and they need a fresh set of eyes. I don't know the gist of it yet but I'll have to see when I get there," I lied.

"Hm," he just said.

I heard outside the loud rumble of an engine that was turning faster and faster. I got up and looked out the window. My house was placed on a hill and to the right, on the upside of the hill, I could see the gloss black 1968 Dodge Charger R/T David had described barreling down the hill. The windows were tinted but I knew it was friends because the driver did a J-turn and the car came to a halt right next to the curb outside my house. A parallel parking job that only Big Luke would do just to mess with me. Both David and Big Luke got out of the car and walked up to my front door and rang the doorbell.

"That them?" asked my father who had heard the squeal of the tires.

"Yeah, it's definitely them," I said as I walked towards the door.

"They always drive like maniacs?"

"Not always, but sometimes," I said as I pulled the handle and swung the door open.

"What's up?" asked David. "Oh, hello Mr. Collins."

"Hello. I hear you guys are going to be taking my boy to Camp Half-Blood," he said.

"Yes, sir Mr. Collins, sir," replied Big Luke who looked a bit nervous to be meeting my dad.

"You must be Big Luke, the Marine. And you must be David, son of Apollo. I've heard a lot about you guys," said my dad.

My dad extended his hand and my friends shook it. Big Luke didn't squeeze as hard as he could have. I grabbed my suitcase and hugged my dad. We headed out the door and down the steps. I was halfway to the car when I heard a "Be safe" from my dad. I just told him that I would and started to fish around for the door handle that wasn't there.

"Shaved door handles, Brandon. You have to wait for KATE to open them for you," said David who was standing next to me.

I looked at Big Luke, "You installed KATE in a car?"

"Yeah, pretty sweet, ain't it?" he replied.

The door popped and I pulled it the rest of the way open. The front seat folded itself forward and David got in the back. I was older than him so I had the shotgun seat. We drove for a while and Big Luke and David gave me the situation report about this other team. Big Luke had picked up David in Indiana on his way West.

"Have you met this other team?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's four of them and they're Russian. Chiron made me let them into our Kill House. I watched them run drills and train in the walls," we refer to the mock interior of the Kill House as 'the walls'. "They're a pretty solid team. They have one guy, ex-Spetsnaz, the leader. The rest are ex-Red Army. They have one pilot, he's got a chopper that they insisted on parking on the roof of the Kill House. I wish I went with a sloped roof. They got a SAW gunner who is their intelligence or logistics guy. A girl who is dating the head ruskie, she's kinda your equivalent, Brandon. She's EOD. They stick to Russian weaponry, except for the girl. She's running two MP5k's, suppressed."

"Sounds like you don't like them," I mentioned.

"The girl seems nice enough and the most willing to work with us. I detest the others, they don't seem like they;re willing to get along," he explained.

"What do we have in the way of this operation?" I asked.

"There is this mortal scientist, he's building this weapon to use against the camp for Luke Castellan. Big Luke said that Chiron is a bit sketchy on the source of his information. Chiron doesn't know where this guy is but he knows he's somewhere in my area, Indiana-ish," said David.

"Their intelligence guy seems to think that he is hiding out in some trailer park. I don't know if he just thinks everyone in America lives in trailer parks or what but he is dead set on that," Big Luke put in.

"What are their parentage?" I asked.

"The head ruskie is Ares. The girl is the most badass spawn of Demeter ever. The intelligence guy is Athena and the pilot is Hermes. The Ares guy is a year younger than me, his girlfriend is your age. Same with the other two," said Big Luke.

We didn't end up driving to the Portland Airport, we drove to a smaller landing strip where there was a C-130 military aircraft waiting for us. Big Luke drove the car up to the ramp and stopped. A man about my height stepped out onto the ramp. He was wearing a headset that went over both ears and had the boom right next to his lips. He had real short haircut and aviator sunglasses. He had a Air-force flight suit with the bottoms of the pants tucked into the tops of a pair of combat boots, much like Big Luke did at camp.

"What's up, man?" asked Big Luke as he slapped the guys hand and curled his fingers into a fist that the guy pumped back. It seems like Big Luke had a different greeting gesture for all of his military buddies.

"Hey, dude. Your boys ready for take-off?" the guy asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Eight hour flight in this can, right?"

"Sure is. Is that your car?" asked the pilot.

"You bet, I'll load it on board and we'll get out of here," said Big Luke as he headed back to the door.

He climbed in and drove the car up the ramp.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"That's Butch. He flew us over Winnebago last summer."

I remembered that particular flight all too well. Big Luke had strapped himself to me and forced me to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. We did what was called a HALO jump, or High Altitude, Low Opening and our first chute didn't deploy. Big Luke had to use the reserve chute to keep us from becoming a couple of camouflaged pancakes. Still the best airplane ride ever. I learned a lot on that operation. Like Big Luke was a terrible driver and hanging out of a pickup truck doing ninety miles an hour was the best way to take out a helicopter without a rocket launcher.

Big Luke strapped the car's axles into place to keep the car from rolling out of the plane and Butch raised the ramp. He moved up to the cockpit and started the planes engines. We rolled onto the runway and took off. Big Luke walked up to KATE and asked her to open the door. The door popped and he stepped inside, leaving the door open.

"KATE, can you call the phone at the shop, please?" he asked the car.

"Yes, I can," she replied and we heard a dial tone through KATE's stereo system.

"Who's at the shop?" I asked.

"I'm hoping it's Brittany and not the other team," he replied.

"Why would Brittany be in the shop? You guys hanging out or something?" I asked.

"Yeah, sort of. I've kinda turned into a father figure for Mathew and Brittany still has a thing for me. It's definitely past hero syndrome," he replied.

"She made him let her go on that operation in Maine. Basically blackmailed him into letting her go, using information about the Strike Team. Long story short, we ended up outside in the woods and Big Luke had to pull her into a bush. On the way home, she demanded that Big Luke buy her a new dress and take her dancing, which they did that following weekend," said David who was looking sleepier and sleepier by the minute.

"You went dancing?" I asked Big Luke.

"Yeah, and spent a good hundred bucks or so on that dress, too. We got in a fight with a few mortal guys outside afterward," he quickly changed the subject. "Five guys, one gun, two baseball bats and two knives. I took two of them and Brittany took a third. The other two ran off when I put the guy's gun to his head."

"Hello?" we heard Mathew's voice through the speakers say.

"Hey, little dude. Is your sister there?" asked Big Luke.

"Yeah, you want to talk to her?" he replied.

"Sure," There was a long pause and I could hear the phone on the other end exchange from one person to the other.

"Hello?" said Brittany's voice through the speakers.

"Hey, it's Big Luke. Is that other team with you in the room?" asked Big Luke.

"Not at the moment. They've been here all day running drills in the walls, though. You guys on your way home yet?" she replied.

"Yeah, we just picked Brandon up."

"OK, well, Chiron is urgently wanting to talk to you when you get back. He doesn't know that I hang out here but he knows that we're, friends," she replied as if she wanted to say something else.

Big Luke just sighed. I could see in his face that he was not looking forward to talking with Chiron.

"OK, well, we're on a plane now. We'll see you about noon or so," said Big Luke.

"OK, be safe, Jon Luke," she replied and hung up.

"Why does she always instruct you to 'be safe'? Doesn't she realize that you are a very reckless individual?" asked KATE.

"Because she likes him," I told KATE.

"I'm not reckless," corrected Big Luke. "She's just over-protective."

"Why does she call you 'Jon Luke' when everyone else refers to you as 'Big Luke'?" asked KATE.

"She never liked my nickname," responded Big Luke.

* * *

We landed on a landing strip not far outside of New York City around noon like Big Luke said. I had to shake David awake before we unloaded KATE and drove to Camp Half-Blood. When we got there we parked KATE in the underground shop and got out. We could hear gun fire above.

"They're here," said Big Luke.

* * *

_**Author's**____**Note:**____**I know, a bit of a cliffy. Don't hate me. Probably will update some time this weekend. Whether it's Saturday or Sunday, i don't know.**_


	6. Chapter 6

David

The other team was... just like us.

The leader was a few inches shorter than Big Luke and just as big. He looked like a Ares kid for sure, several small scars littered his face. He had a AK-74 slung on his shoulder. I could see the handle to something sticking up over his right shoulder, like the handle to an ax. He had a Makarov pistol on his right thigh.

The machine gunner was as tall as me and looked like he could have been related to Brandon only he looked completely different at the same time. They had similar facial features but the Russian had shaggy, brown hair where Brandon's was jet black. He was skinny and didn't look strong enough to carry the PKM machine gun that he was resting his elbows on.

The pilot was built similar to Butch who we met earlier and had light brown hair. He held a pilot's helmet under his arm and a pistol of some kind on his left hip.

The girl was standing next to the leader and was about as tall as Brandon. She had neck-length, auburn hair that hung hung down to her eyebrows in the front. She was long and lean and had two MP5k's with internal suppressors. Neither one had a stock but one had a vertical grip and the other didn't. By looking at her the last thing you would think is "Daughter of Demeter".

"Guys, this is Fyoder, Dasha, Fadey, and Bob," Big Luke pointed to a person as he said each name.

Fyoder was the leader, Dasha was the girl, Fadey was the pilot, and Bob was the machine gunner. I thought it was funny that a Russian was named Bob. They all wore the same uniform, a camouflage with grays, blacks and a splash of red. They all had body armor but Dasha had this shoulder holster type thing that held her spare magazines on her sides. I could see the Simunitions that they were using on the top of the mags. The rest were wearing plate carriers that had reserve ammunition and other gear. They all had helmets with night vision and the lead guy was wearing sunglasses.

"Nice to meet you guys," said Brandon.

The leader, Fyoder, just scoffed and unloaded his AK-74.

"Please excuse him," said Dasha.

She extended her hand and Brandon shook it.

"So, what do you guys think; should we run a couple in the walls?" asked Big Luke. I could tell that he was really trying make this joint operation work.

Nobody answered. They just stood around and checked their weapons.

"OK, well, I gotta go talk to the boss," Big Luke said, looking at Brandon and I. "You guys can chill with them or come with me."

We decided to go with him. We walked out the front door and headed for the Big House where we were hoping to find Chiron. I had to avoid all kinds of dirt and mud because I didn't want any of it on my new Nike's. We made it to the Big House and walked inside.

"Oh, it's you three, John Wayne, Franklins and Wang. Does Chiron need you to run another errand for him?" said the man in the leopard jogging suit, Mr. D.

"We need to talk to him, sir. Is he around?" asked Big Luke.

"Yeah, he's in his room," Mr. D replied.

We walked down the hallway and Big Luke knocked on Chiron's door three times. I heard Chiron's wheel chair roll up to the door and he opened it.

"Hello heroes, Come in," he said and we stepped inside.

"So, uh, Brittany said that you wanted to talk to us, sir?" asked Big Luke.

"Yes, I did. I wanted to tell you three that my information was wrong. This scientist is an independent. I'm afraid Luke Castellan has yet to hire him. That is not to say that he will not try to obtain the weapons that the mortal is designing," explained Chiron.

"Wait, you said earlier that he is working on only one weapon. What's the other?" I asked.

"I know that one is some kind of machine, the other is an actual organism. I don't know much more than that," replied Chiron.

"Just to be clear here, is the mission the scientist or the weapons?" asked Brandon.

"It's both," replied Chiron. "For now, I want you three to train. Become one as a team again. Just remember that you are to work with the other team on this operation."

We ended the meeting there and headed back to the Kill House. We walked inside and Brittany was sitting on a chair on the platform. Big Luke walked up the stairs and what he found put a aggravated look on his face. No rounds were going off in the walls and we figured that the other team had stopped training for the night. Brandon and I walked up the platform. Big Luke had the dustcover off of Fyoder's AK and was wiping his finger on the bolt and other parts.

"It looks like he hasn't cleaned this thing since he got it. All the parts are practically black from carbon buildup," he said as he put the dust cover back on the assault rifle.

Big Luke didn't seem to notice that the other team didn't put their gear away, they just left it out on the table.

"I asked Fyoder if he was going to clean it and he just said that he would clean it when it wouldn't shoot anymore," said Brittany who was filing her nails.

"Kalashnikov would cuss him for improper maintenance of his rifle. That mentality is likely to kill him one day," replied Big Luke. "Where's Mathew?"

"He's out hanging with his friends. How was your flight?" replied Brittany.

They made small talk about random stuff and I walked over to the mini-fridge and pulled the door open. I tried to find a Coke but couldn't find one. It was all gone and replaced with Russian sodas and vodka.

"I'm guessing you didn't buy the vodka?" I asked over my shoulder.

"No way," said Big Luke. "I need to talk to them. They are moving in like they own the place. My understanding was that they were only temporary guests. At least that's what I'm hoping."

"You hope?" asked Brittany who didn't like the other team much either.

"I'm hoping this operation doesn't go so well and Chiron wont ask them to stay. Like we fight too much or something,"replied Big Luke.

"That shouldn't be too hard," said Brandon.

Big Luke, Brandon and I got our gear on. We asked the automatons that we used as opposition to create the floor plan of that of a double-wide. If Bob was right, then we would need to be well rounded on the layout of trailers. Big Luke told them to have a max of four operatives in the house, including one HVT (High Value Target).

I had my M110 strapped to my back next to my bow, quiver and backpack which was attached to the back of my olive drab plate carrier. After I saw Brandon take a round in his plates last summer, I elected to switch out my pistol rated plates to rifle rated plates, which means that the armor plates will stop rifle rounds which move faster and have more penetrating power but were also much heavier. I had strapped my Heckler and Koch MP7 sub machine gun to my right thigh. I had four spare magazines for the sub-machine gun on my left hip. The stomach of the plate carrier was lined with three spare mags for my M110.

Brandon had changed his primary weapon since last summer. I think it had something to do with the lack of penetration he had out of his MP5 which shot a nine millimeter. He was now using a Heckler and Koch 416 with a ten and a half inch barrel and a suppressor. He had a holographic sight mounted on top of the receiver and a vertical grip mounted to the underside of the rail system. He had a Beretta M9 in a hard plastic holster. The holster was magic so if someone was to try to pull the weapon out, the holster would shock them like a taser.

Brandon had six magazines for his 416 on the stomach of his vest and four more for his handgun on the chest. He had two frag grenades on his left side and several tools and breaching equipment on his back and sides. He had two handles over each shoulder that belonged to a set of bolt-cutters. His plate carrier was black for better use in low light situations, where mine was better for camouflage in wooded and green areas.

Big Luke's gear was beyond used, It was flat out weathered. He was using his plate carrier from when he was deployed overseas which was a dark tan color, he had gotten most of the blood out of it last summer but it still had a few spots. He had eight magazines for his M16 on his stomach and two spare mags one the left side of his chest. On the right was a thin pouch for documents and often car keys. The pouch had a few loops of MOLLE webbing which Big Luke hung a key chain that had his blood type printed in block letters, O negative, universal donor. He had two frags on his left side next to a six inch by six inch pouch next to it. On his back was a backpack like Brandon and I both had where he kept all kinds of explosives and other goodies. Next to his backpack was a shotgun scabbard with a Mossberg 590 with police furniture. The shotgun's stock was pretty special, it had two tubes on the inside where he had two spare double-ought buck rounds and two slugs. The magazine tube was loaded with breaching rounds. On his belt was a Ka-Bar bayonet that Big Luke had made from Celestial Bronze.

Big Luke's M16 was beat to Hades from years of hard combat. Bare metal was showing in many spots on the receiver and rail system. The M16A4 from the factory could shoot semi-automatic or three round burst. Big Luke modified it to have a fourth option (the first being "safe") being full-auto which was another forty-five degrees on the selector switch.

He had the most sophisticated optics and electronics out of the whole group. The upper receiver was decorated with a holographic sight like Brandon's but he mounted a magnifier behind the optic. On the front part of the rail system, he had a inferred and visable laser combination which he could use with his night vision. He had a flashlight that was mounted on the right side of the rail system that could swivel. He had a vertical grip and put the flashlight by his thumb so he could operate it easily. The barrel was cut short by two inches and the stock was that of a tubular design with a small recoil pad. The weapon was slung over his shoulder with one point of attachment. He had a small plastic "C" that was mounted to his right side and fit the front of his M16 to keep it out of the way when it was not needed.

All three of us had these BDU's in a digital camouflage with lots of blacks and grays. The bodies of the shirts were a spandex like material where the arms were more of a canvas type. This allowed the wearer to stay cool underneath a plate carrier. Each shirt had pockets on the sleeves and the pants had many cargo pockets where we each kept different pieces of gear. All of us wore Kevlar helmets that we mounted our night vision goggles to. We all wore black, nylon gloves and we had these big headsets that went over our left ears. The boom came down in front of our mouths and there was a cable with a button to activate it.

Since last summer, Big Luke thought it necessary that we each wear eye-protection, so Brandon and I both had these military style goggles that wrapped around our helmets. The lenses could automatically darken when exposed to bright sunlight. We preferred these over what Big Luke was using. He used a pair of sunglasses that could auto-tint as well. When all the lenses were tinted, we looked like commando rock stars.

"I still think you two look funny," said Brittany who was still sitting in the chair on the platform.

"Why?" I asked because I thought we looked pretty badass.

"Well, you guys wear this black and gray camouflage but your vest is dark green and Jon Luke's is brown. They don't match," explained Brittany.

"It's war, not a fashion show," said Big Luke.

"It's unprofessional is what it is."

They went back and fourth for a few seconds until Big Luke took his loss and we headed down to the front door of the walls. We checked our weapons and Big Luke got the _Ah Ha! _look on his face. He walked over to the wall where there was a small shelf with an iPod docked to it. One of the upgrades that Big Luke did to the Kill House was install a surround sound system in the four corners.

"If we can't clear this trailer by the end of this song, I'm going to be very disappointed," said Big Luke as he clicked a song, "Back in the Saddle Again" by Aerosmith.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Author's Note:**__**I would seriously suggest going on Youtube and searching for "Back in the Saddle Again" by Aerosmith and play it for the first part of this chapter. it might intensify the experience a little.**_

Big Luke

We were stacked up on the door to enter the walls. Studying the layout for a few minutes ahead of time, I knew that I would be going left towards the kitchen, bathroom, second entryway and two bedrooms in the back. Brandon and David would go left towards the master bedroom, master bath and another bedroom. I knew the first thing I was going to do is sidestep to my right and pointing my rifle to the left, clearing my side for any opposition. I could also lay down covering fire if need be so they can make their way to their side of the trailer.

David and I were stacked up on the left side of the door, the handle side. Brandon was on the other side reaching across the door to the handle, waiting for me to give him the signal. He tapped the side of his receiver with his left hand. I knew what he was trying to say and I nodded. I had remembered to chamber a round before we moved in.

I waited till just before Steven Tyler screamed "I'm back!" over the speakers to give the signal.

I entered and sidestepped across the mock living room and one Tango came out from under the bar in the kitchen. He was coming at me with a foam sword. He was wearing old Army fatigues and the metallic skin and red eyes make the robots look like the Terminator. I put three rounds in his chest. The yellow paint spots appeared in quick succession with the single pull of the trigger.

I saw out of the corner of my eye Brandon and David move towards their side of the building. The song kept the adrenaline pumping through my body and made the experience that much more exciting. I took a brief second to look up at the catwalks above. The whole other team was standing watching us.

I put that out of my mind and continued to move down the hallway that connected the bathroom and other rooms on my side. The door to the bathroom was closed so I stuck the forend of my M16 in my weapons catch on my left side. I drew my 1911 from my right thigh and took it off safety. I kicked the door open and stepped inside. There was one automaton like the one in the kitchen hiding in the shower area and I put two rounds in him. Two gone, six more in the gun. My ears rang from the rounds going off since my 1911 was not suppressor compatible. The automaton walked out of the cramped bathroom and I took cover by the door.

I could hear rounds going off and doors being kicked open through the music on the other end of the mock building. I knew that there were probably nobody left on my end but to keep with the purpose of the drill, I kicked in the remaining doors. As a bonus, I could take out my frustration on the doors.

"MacGyver to Red 5, all clear on this side, over," I heard Brandon's voice through my headset.

"On my way," I replied and headed out for the other side.

I looked in all the doors until I reached the mock master bathroom. Brandon had the HVT which was an automaton in an old stained lab coat, pinned to the floor and was putting flex cuffs, or zip-ties basically, around his wrists. David was pointing his MP7 at their captive to make sure he didn't try anything. I reholstered my 1911 and pulled out the little remote control for the music and pressed pause. We finished way before the song ended.

"Good work," I told my team as we bumped fists.

Brandon cut the machine loose. We took our helmets off and walked back up the stairs. Brittany had left and the other team was walking back from their spot on the catwalk.

"Not bad; could be better," said Fyoder.

"How so?" I asked.

"Blow it up; faster," he replied.

"The objective was to subdue the HVT, not kill him. Trust me, if it was the other way around, I would have thought of it," I explained. "You guys want to run one like that?"

He just scoffed again (that was really starting to piss me off).

"Sure, we will," said Dasha in a polite tone.

They moved down to the bottom floor and got geared up. We took a spot on the catwalk. I rested my elbows on the rail and peered down. The other team was still staging so I drew my 1911. I weighed it in my hand for a second and ejected the magazine. As I slipped some new rounds in the mag, I watched the automatons take their positions in the walls.

They moved around. Now, they had the HVT covered by two armed guards and the fourth was stationed on my former side of the building, the left side. He was hiding out in one of the bedrooms.

The other team was finally ready and stacked up on the door. Bob had his hand on the door handle much like Brandon did. The PKM was too much for him to hold with one hand, so he let it hang on the sling. Fyoder gave them the signal and Bob opened the door. I clicked a button on my watch to start the timer. The four of them moved in and immediately split up, Fyoder and Dasha went left and Fadey and Bob went right. The group preformed the drill almost perfectly. I checked my watch, about the same time that we had.

* * *

The next day, Chiron insisted that I take Fyoder to my hand-to-hand combat class. I didn't like the guy but he was ex-Spetsnaz and they have their own martial arts program that's pretty good. I stood at the front of the class and was demonstrating a technique on Brandon. Brittany teases me and says that I beat up on Brandon but I can teach him a lot better if he's up close and personal, plus I know he can take it.

I told Brandon to roundhouse kick me in the side. I caught his leg in my left arm and I stepped in next to his left foot with my right foot.

"Now, all I'm going to do is push or punch him in the chest while I'm sweeping his foot out from under him," I explained as Brandon was hopping on one foot. "I can just let him fall but I want to create space so I can draw or brandish my weapon. I got a gun but you'll have a knife or sword or whatever you use. So, like I said: I'm just going to swipe with my right foot and punch with my right hand."

Brandon's eyes widened as I swiped his foot and pushed on his chest. I didn't let him fall too hard but just enough to keep him tough. I stepped back and drew my 1911. I left the safety on and my finger way off the trigger, so far that my trigger finger was stretched over the slide. I paused for a second and reholstered my weapon. I lent my hand to Brandon and he took it.

"Do you have anything to add to that?" I asked Fyoder who wasn't far away.

"Yes," he answered as he walked up to Brandon.

"If this guy try to kick me in thigh, right here," he said pointing to the outside of his left thigh. "Go ahead, kick me," he told Brandon.

Brandon did but he was hesitant. He was comfortable when I was demonstrating because I said what I was going to do before I did it. Fyoder just did the maneuver. When Brandon tried to kick Fyoder in the thigh, Fyoder struck the back of his knee and Brandon lost his balance. Fyoder caught Brandon's leg in his and fell over backwards, taking Brandon with him. He faked like he elbowed Brandon in the hip and stood back up. He held out his arms like _See? That's how it's done! _I lent my hand down to Brandon and he took it.

"OK, now your going to partner up with a automation and practice each technique ten times," I told the class.

Everyone went off with a robot and practiced each technique. I was curious about that move of Fyoder's that I put our differences aside and walked up to him.

"Do you think you can show me that again? I'm curious about how it works," I asked Fyoder.

He shrugged and nodded yes. We faced off in one corner and I tried the kick to his thigh. He pushed on the inside of my knee and I buckled. He caught my foot with his leg and fell backwards. This applied torque to my leg and caused me to fall over backwards with him. He faked the elbow and stood up, releasing my foot in the process.

To my surprise, he lent me a hand and I took it. He lifted me up and we shook hands.

"Thank you," I said and he nodded.

* * *

I got worried at supper that night when I didn't see Fyoder, Fadey or Bob there. Dasha was just sitting there at the Demeter table looking bored. I started to get really worried when Brandon walked over to her outside the dining pavilion. She was sitting on the steps and Brandon sat down next to her. They didn't do much but talk. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that they were just trying to think of a way to bring the two teams together after so much tension between us.

I sat and ate some brisket and watched the two sitting on the steps. Dasha smiled when they talked and her eyes glinted in the moonlight. Brandon held himself differently when he was around her. He'd straighten his posture and keep his feet wider. When he sat down on the steps, he kept his knees bent and rested his arms on them like they were heavy. He was trying to look cool or tough or something, I didn't know what it was to be honest.

I got bored and walked over to the big fire and scraped a piece of my meal into the flames. I said a short prayer to my father, Hephaestus, and a strange smell of gasoline and burnt gunpowder rose from the flames. A deadly combination but it still managed to smell so sweet.

Chiron stopped me on my way out of the dinning pavilion.

"Have you seen Fyoder, Fadey or Bob tonight?" he asked.

"No, sir."

"Do you know where they are?" he asked.

"Probably running some drills in our Kill House," I replied.

"Without their fourth team member?"

"You don't need the whole crew to run a scenario, sir," I replied.

"They have missed dinner," Chiron said.

"So have we on numerous occasions. It's fine, sir. I'm sure of it," I wasn't completely sure but enough to say it.

He just nodded and I went along on my marry way. I started for the Kill house. Brittany saw me walking and intercepted me.

"What you doin'?" she asked as she threaded her arm through mine.

"Just heading to the Kill House."

"Can I come?" she asked.

"Do I really have to answer that?"

"No," she replied.

We walked out to the Kill House and nobody was home. No rounds going off in the walls and nobody on the platform. It was so quiet. I moved the carpet that I had laid down over the trap door. I wanted to keep the other team out of my shop as much as possible. We walked down the steps and KATE was watching a movie across the windshield, _The Fast and the Furious_.

"Hello, Jon Luke," she greeted us and I took a seat by the computer.

"How's it going KATE?"

"It is going well, Jon Luke," she replied.

"I need you to pull up that packing list I started the other day," I requested.

"Certainly," KATE replied.

I started a list for the upcoming operation and I wanted to get started on it. A light blue holographic image appeared above one of the induction holes on KATE's hood. The image was that of a notepad with several "To Do" items written on it. One item was to load the M61's under KATE's hood. I told KATE to pop the hood and I walked over to a crate with a bunch of ammunition belts rolled up in ammo boxes. I grabbed the first two and walked next to KATE's driver's side fender. Brittany took a seat on the other fender and put both feet on the bumper. She leaned back on her right hand and watched me load the machine guns.

I cleaned each gun before I loaded them to make sure we didn't have any jams while firing. KATE was able to clear any jams but I just wanted to avoid any malfunctions as much as possible.

I knew I was scowling, but I always did that when I got focused on something. Working with my hands kept my mind occupied and it helped me deal with a lot of trouble over the years.

"What are you thinking about?" Brittany asked, still watching me work.

"I'm thinking that I need to clean that burr out of the chamber on this M61," I said as I got a file and a piece of sandpaper.

When I got back I started filing the burr in the chamber ever so slightly. I didn't notice Brittany get off the fender and walk behind me. She wrapped her arms around me and leaned into me.

I knew she liked me and she knew that I knew but we never really talked about it. I was afraid of bringing myself so close to people especially being who I am. I don't think I could handle losing anybody I cared about. It was hard enough losing my mom. I knew that I was already too close to her and her brother, and that was bad enough.

I turned around and Brittany laid her head on my chest. I figured this was as good of time as any to talk to her. Fortunatly for me, she spoke first.

"I want you to be safe," she whispered.

"KATE, don't record this," I knew that she often recorded my conversations with people to use as reference later.

"You know I can't promise that," I said as I wrapped my arms around her.

She sat there for a minute, still holding on to me. I stared at the screen of my computer. Which reminded me to check the weather in Indiana before we left.

"I think... I love you," she finally said.

I sighed, that's exactly what I didn't want her to say.

"Brittany, have I ever told you the story of when I was in Jerusalem?" I asked her.

"No."

I told her the story: We were stationed a few miles outside of Jerusalem and we got a call from the Israeli police. The man on the phone said they needed our help since most of the available men were out fighting terrorism. An Iraqi man had made his way into the city and was holding his two wives and his single daughter hostage at bomb point. The guy had a suicide vest on and was threatening to blow everyone up. We go to get in the trucks and our point man trips and puts his face right on the step of the truck. He broke his nose and our sergeant told me that I was going to be point man on that operation.

We finally arrive at the apartment building in downtown Jerusalem. The mission was to breach the door and take this guy out while the Israeli who was talking him down had his attention.

When the guy in front of me, the door man, opened the door with a battering ram, I stepped inside the room and put one round under the guy's chin and one right on the bridge of his nose. Separating his brain from the rest of his body. No twitches that could set off the bomb. At least that's what the coroner told me. Afterward, his daughter runs up to me and lays a big, fat kiss on my lips in front of the gods and everybody for at least five seconds. It was bad.

"We called it hero syndrome. It's a real thing. I think you might be suffering from it," I finished.

"You know? I've heard of that and it's what I thought too, but now I'm not so sure. I like seeing you with Mathew and how your like a second father to him. It's good for him to have that in his life. Plus, your so nice and I like the way you put up with me and the way you treat me," she replied.

I never thought of myself as nice: tolerant? Yes. Master craftsman? Sure, why not. A Marine? Definitely. I never put the word "nice" on a job application to describe myself.

"Look, I just want you to be safe," she said again.

"You know I can't promise that. Not with this job or the war or anything like that."

"I know," she looked up at me as her eyes started to tear up. "It's your fatal flaw. Your willing and eager to give your life to keep other people from harm."

"I wouldn't say eager," I said with a smile and she smiled back.

Her smile quickly faded, "You also take it personally when you fail to keep the ones you care about from getting hurt."

I sighed again. I knew she was right but it was my duty to keep people safe. If I didn't, who would? I couldn't let what happened to my mom happen again.

"You can't carry all that responsibility and guilt around on your shoulders all the time," she said and I wiped a tear from her cheek. "It tears you apart. I've seen it."

"It was my fault she died," I said referring to my mom.

I truly meant it. That night when I left my house after I was knocked down by step-dad, I joined the Marines. I came at my step-dad because he was arguing with my mom and hit her. While I was out, my step-dad killed her and his son came up with a fake alibi. I've made it my life's mission to kill them both for what they did.

"There was no way you could have predicted that. And you know that," she whispered.

I checked my watch, "It's getting late. You should go and-" she kissed me, cutting me off.

She pulled away and left without another word. I stood there watching as she walked out and up the stairs, thinking about all the other ways I could have taken that conversation.


	8. Chapter 8

Brandon

It was finally Leaving Day. The day that we set out on our quest to recover the scientist and destroy the weapons he created before Luke Castellan could get his hands on them. It was early in the morning and the weather hadn't heated up quite yet. Everybody at camp was still asleep so nobody saw us as we snuck out of our cabins.

During the past few days, we ran maybe three scenarios with the other team. With the exception of Dasha, they were not willing to work with us. Dasha finally convinced them to run a few so we could get a feel for each others style and rhythm.

We had moved KATE outside and Big Luke was packing the trunk with everything that we would need. He was like Jarhead Santa Clause, he had a list and he was checking it twice.

We had three duffel bags filled with our kits in the trunk, along with about a thousand rounds of ammunition for each gun. We had about half Celestial Bronze cased and half full-metal jackets. All of our cleaning kits and solvents were in there too. Big Luke had insisted that we put a few bricks of Celestial Bronze and a small melting pot so we could make more monster rounds if we needed to. Any luggage that we needed like extra clothes and our toiletries were in there too.

The other team had parked (do you _park_ a helicopter?) their ride a few yards from KATE. I watched as they loaded up the chopper with all of their gear. It was hard to imagine that they were going to fly that thing all the way to Indiana.

The helicopter was a Russian MiL-24 Hind and was pretty big. It had twin jet engines that sat on top under the main rotor wings. On the wings were several machine guns and rockets. It was painted in a brown and green camouflage with a baby-blue belly. I could see in the storage compartment behind the two pilot seats a set of bunk beds and a couple more seats. They were stacking most of the gear on the bunks. The storage compartment looked small for the size of the aircraft.

Dasha walked up to me and I straightened up, "You boys ready to move out?"

She could speak the best English out of their whole team. She always had this beautiful smile when she talked. Her eyes sparkled with life and she always had a way to keep the conversation going. Fyoder was a lucky guy to have her.

"Yeah, pretty close, anyway," I replied.

Brittany and Mathew weren't far away, they were standing by the side of the Kill House watching. Big Luke walked over to them when he had finished packing the car. He knelt down in front of Mathew and held out his fist.

"You take care of your sister. You hear?" he said.

"Yeah, I hear you," Mathew replied as he bumped Big Luke's fist.

Big Luke smiled, "Good."

He stood up and Brittany hugged him. He hugged her back and she pulled away. I kind of suspected that they had a real heart-to-heart conversation and didn't tell anybody else about it.

"Be safe," she told him.

"I'll do my best," Big Luke replied.

She kissed him on the cheek, "You better do better than that."

Big Luke just winked and smiled at her. Then he walked back towards us and rotated his pointer finger in the air, signaling to start the engines.

KATE's engine started and rumbled the dirt around us. Then we heard the loud whine of the jet engines on the Russian Hind and felt the rotor wash start to flow around us. We got in the car and Big Luke insisted that he drive rather than use the autopilot. He looked in the rear-view mirror at Brittany and Mathew who were waving at us. He watched them until he couldn't see them anymore and pushed a little harder on the accelerator.

The Hind was flying over us as we drove down the country road that lead to the freeway. They were pretty high up and looked no bigger than a beetle. They were leading us by a little ways. We had discussed with Fadey that we didn't want to get separated on the trip over. So, he slowed down as we drove at normal highway speeds, which for Big Luke meant we were going ten or fifteen over the whole way.

Still being early in the morning, there wasn't too much traffic and we could make pretty good time. Every time KATE alerted us of a speed trap, Big Luke would tell her to cover the license plate with duct tape. Why he couldn't just hide them was beyond me. Then he would punch it and get up to around three-hundred, twenty miles per hour or so and what ever cop that was sitting there wouldn't even bother trying to chase us down.

Every few hours or so, we had to stop outside an airport or military base and let the helicopter refuel. KATE never needed gassing up because she ran on a small amount of the fuel that Hephaestus uses in his forges which never have to be stoked. Big Luke had designed and built an engine and drive-train to take that kind of pressure. As a result, he built the fastest non-magical car any demigod has ever seen.

We were sitting outside an airport somewhere in Ohio before we crossed into Indiana. David was fast asleep in the back seat and Big Luke and I got out to stretch our legs. We were dressed to keep a lower profile so Big Luke had a navy button-up shirt and khaki cargo pants. His dog tags hung out of his shirt.

I had my regular cargo shorts and a red T-shirt. I was wearing my running shoes and Big Luke had showed me how to conceal my Beretta M9 and a couple of spare magazines. My M9 was on my right hip on the inside of my waistband. My shirt covered the grip.

"So, what was that about back at camp?" I asked as we waited for the Hind to take off.

"She's just worried. That's all," he replied. I knew he wasn't giving me the whole story.

"Brittany said that she loves Jon Luke," said KATE.

"Damn it, KATE. I told you not to record that conversation," Big Luke told her.

"I didn't record it. I just remembered what she told you," replied KATE.

"I shouldn't have said anything. It's not my business," I apologized to Big Luke.

"You're fine. Curiosity is natural," he replied.

We waited some more for the Hind to take off. It was taking a bit longer than it usually did and I could tell that Big Luke was getting worried.

"KATE, hack into their radio frequency. See what's taking so long," Big Luke's impatient self was coming through again.

"Certainly," KATE replied. "I will patch you through now."

"This is Big Luke. Is anyone their? What's taking so long?" Big Luke asked as KATE transmitted.

Bob (who didn't speak any English, whatsoever) started rambling on in Russian. We could hear gunshots and explosions in the background.

"Put someone on who can speak English, Bob."

"Can he understand English?" I asked Big Luke.

"I sure as fuck hope so," he replied.

"Hello? Who is this?" asked Dasha on the other end.

"This is Big Luke and Brandon. What's going on in there?" I asked.

"We were ambushed by Laistrygonian giants after we fueled up, break," we heard a couple of MP5k's going off for a few seconds. "We are in need of assistance."

"We are on our way, Dasha. Hold tight and stay on the line," said Big Luke as we got in the car.

"Dasha, what's your twenty?" I asked.

"On the tarmac," she replied.

KATE started her engine and Big Luke floored the accelerator. The tires squealed as we got back on the highway that ran past the airport. Big Luke was constantly looking to the left until he saw the runway and the tarmac. He plowed the car through the fence just as a Boeing 747 was coming in for a landing above us. We shot across the lawn and onto the runway, keeping pace with the 747.

Big Luke swerved to the right as the 747 hit the runway. That was a problem because we knew the Hind was on the left side of the runway. A few kids waved at us from the windows on the plane and I waved back. I could see under the belly of the airplane the tail rotor of the Hind at the end of the runway.

"There they are," I pointed.

"What the fuck are we doing?" screamed David who had just woken up.

Big Luke saw it too and he floored the accelerator and we shot past the 747 as it was slowing down. We didn't have time to answer David's question, but it would be answered soon enough. We got up next to the cockpit of the plane when Big Luke grabbed a handful of the parking brake and yanked the wheel to the left. The back end of the car kicked out as we came sliding in front of the landing gear. My stomach lurched to the right as we came just feet of being trampled by the landing gear of the plane.

"KATE, ready the M61's. Brandon, use the joystick to control them," commanded Big Luke.

The glove box opened automatically and there was a small joystick with a bunch of buttons on a control panel. I looked out the windshield and there were four small X's in blue and they moved slightly as I moved the joystick.

Big Luke turned the car towards the Hind which was surrounded by a small army of the Laistrygonians. There were probably close to fifty of them. When we got there, Big Luke drifted the car in a circle around the army and I put the reticles on my targets. I pulled the trigger. It took a second for the guns to wind up before they started spitting out Celestial Bronze jacketed lead like fire hoses. Giants started exploding into dust as we came to a stop right in front of the Hind's side door. I continued to lay down covering fire so Fyoder and Dasha could take cover behind KATE.

"So that's what we're doing," said David in the back seat.

Big Luke stepped out of the car and used the door as cover. He drew his 1911 and opened fire on the Laistrygonian army. Dasha walked up to my door and opened it.

"We are having trouble with the engines on the helicopter," she said, crouching behind the door. "Does Big Luke know anything about helicopters?"

"He knows machinery," I said with my finger holding down the trigger on the M61's.

"I'll check it out," said Big Luke from the other side of the car.

The number of Laistrygonians were quickly depleting as Big Luke went to work on the Hind. Giants exploding into dust and smoke. So much smoke that it was hard t see at times. I had finished off the army with the machine guns. Once the smoke had cleared, there was nothing left but monster dust laying on the tarmac.

"Turn it over," yelled Big Luke to Bob who was sitting in the pilot's seat.

He did something with his hands that I couldn't see and the rotor blades didn't move. Big Luke looked up at a mass crowd of security guards and TSA agents coming out of the airport. I told KATE to put the guns away and I heard the covers close on the barrels.

"Stop right there," said one of the TSA agents but Big Luke continued to work on the Hind.

"I'm going to count to three," said the agent.

"One."

Big Luke still had the cover on the side of the Hind open.

"Two."

Big Luke was no where near finished. I put my hands on the dash of the Charger and waited to be escorted to jail.

"Three!"

"Turn it over!" yelled Big Luke and the rotor blades started to turn. "KATE, throw smoke!"

I saw two canisters of smoke grenades roll out from the underside of the car which began to spew a large black cloud of smoke. Big Luke got back in the car and the other team boarded the aircraft. Big Luke waited for them to get off the ground before he threw the car in reverse and floored the accelerator. He turned around in the seat as we nearly took the landing gear off the Hind.

Big Luke pulled the parking break and yanked the wheel to the right and the car swung left. He put the car in first and released the parking break when we were at a hundred and forty degrees in our turnaround. Classic Rockford turnaround. We came out of it going straight and Big Luke floored the accelerator as we rocketed towards the hole in the fence that we made earlier.

We drifted onto the highway and got the heck out of there before any cops or TSA agents started following us.

"KATE, terminate the radio link," asked Big Luke as we drove down the highway. "No car sickness?" he asked me.

"Nope," I answered.

"It have anything to do with Dasha?" he asked with a slight smirk on his face. "I saw you guys talking the other night. She smiles a lot."

"You saw that, huh?"

"Yes, I did. Look, whatever you feel for her-."

"I never said I felt anything for her," I interrupted him.

He just gave me this look like _Really, Brandon? I'm not stupid_. The truth was I might have had a crush on her. Just a little bit. But I wasn't going to let anybody tease me about it.

"Look, whatever it is: don't let Fyoder find out. He'll tear you a new one," Big Luke advised me.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Author's Note:**____**Any Eagles fan out there? (The band not the football team)**_

David

Brandon shook me awake from the back seat of the Charger.

"Welcome home," he said. "Big Luke is getting a room at this hotel. I don't like it, it's called Hotel California. Ever heard of it?"

"Nope," I said as I climbed out of the back seat. "I heard the song though."

I looked around, I couldn't see the helicopter anywhere.

"They parked it on top of a parking garage," said Brandon who saw me looking around. "They'll be here any minute now."

I just nodded as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. It was sunset and nearing dark. The air smelled familiar but I had never seen the building before.

It was a reddish brown color and was two stories tall. The bottom floor had several arches that ran along the front side of it. There were two signs, one that read "La Popular" and another that read "Hotel California". We got our luggage and walked into the hotel to met Big Luke in the lobby.

"What's up, sleeping beauty?" asked Big Luke.

"Not much. You guys listen to some Eagles while I was asleep?"

"Nope, but when I saw the sign out front, I had to check it out," said Big Luke.

We walked by the lady at the front desk who looked way to happy to be working at a hotel.

"Welcome to the Hotel California," she said. "It's such a lovely place."

The person showing us to our rooms had a candle. They took the song way to seriously, I was just waiting for the Eagles to start playing over the intercom.

We were walking down the hallway, following the short lady with the candle. We were a few paces from our door when I felt someone tap on my right shoulder, but when I turned around, there was nobody there. I was starting to get worried.

The short lady opened the door and we walked inside. The room was nothing special, just a couple of beds and a TV set. There was a small table and a couple of chairs. There was a bathroom with a shower and a sink. Just your average hotel room.

Big Luke sprawled out on one of the beds and started flipping through the channels on the TV. Brandon and I were looking at a map of the state of Indiana to figure out the best places that this scientist could have been hiding out at. I was trying to argue that he was hiding out in the state parks to the South of Indianapolis, Brandon was trying to tell me that he was somewhere outside of Warsaw around Chapman Lake. We couldn't make up our minds but when we asked Big Luke, he couldn't decide either.

Big Luke was watching a local news channel and was waiting for the weather to come up. We heard the door open and Big Luke instinctively drew down on the people coming in. He rolled off the bed and took cover behind the corner.

"Are you crazy?" asked Dasha who was the first one in the door.

Big Luke reholstered his 1911, "Sorry, force of habit."

"What are you doing?" asked Fyoder in his thick Russian accent.

"Trying to decide where this guy is hiding out. You got any ideas, Bob?" I said.

Bob walked over to the map and looked over it. He pointed to Brandon's choice, South of Indianapolis. He started rambling on in Russian. He spoke for a good three minutes, we just kind of looked at him and nodded our heads as if we knew what he was saying. He finished with his voice trailing upward like he was asking a question. We just kind of looked at him.

"He asks if you even know what he is saying," translated Dasha who was laying up against Fyoder on the other bed.

"Not a word," Brandon said and Dasha laughed.

"He thinks that the scientist is in the State Parks because there is less people and there are probably several of trailer parks," she translated.

"Why do you think we all live in trailer parks?" I asked Bob.

He said something in Russian and Dasha translated, "Russian propaganda made him believe that. We have heard worse things about your country."

The weather finally came on and Big Luke sat up in the bed.

"This week, we will see temperatures in the low eighties and clear skies all week. Those up North will be slightly colder in the mid to high seventies and only a few clouds," the weatherman said.

"Well, the weather isn't giving us any help," said Big Luke.

"In other news," the anchor continued, "There was a terrorist attack at a airport in Ohio earlier today. After a shootout with the TSA, all seven terrorists got away in a helicopter and a 1968 Dodge Charger R/T. We don't have any information on the plates of the vehicle or of the people involved. The good news is nobody was hurt or killed."

"Hey, hey! We're on TV," said Big Luke.

"Shootout with TSA. That is like getting in slap fight with three year old," commented Fyoder.

"Nobody even shot at them. All the shooting was done while they were on a doughnut break!" exclaimed Brandon.

We watched TV for a few more hours and we eventually fell asleep. Dasha and Fyoder slept on one of the beds and Big Luke fell asleep early on. He had managed to roll out of the bed and land on the left side of the bed. That left it open for Fadey to grab the spot. Brandon and I slept on separate parts of the floor along with Bob.

I was woken up at around two in the morning to a voice. No person, just a voice.

"Welcome to the Hotel California," it said.

I sat up and looked around. Nobody.

I crawled over to Big Luke who had his arms behind his head and his ankles crossed like he was at the beach. I shook him awake.

"Dude, what's up? Why am I on the floor?" he asked.

"You rolled out of bed. I'm hearing voices," I whispered.

"I've never done that before," he said.

"What, hear voices?"

"No, roll out of bed," he answered clearly focused on a different subject.

I was about to ask if he has heard voices before but I tried to stay on topic.

"Like I said: I'm hearing voices," I repeated.

"Are you sure you didn't just have a bad dream?" he asked.

"You know me, I don't dream," I replied.

"It's probably nothing," he said laying back down. "Get some rest, your going to need it."

I crawled back over to my spot on the floor and tried to go back to sleep. I remembered back to hearing stories about Vietnam from my crazy uncle. He was a Japanese American in the United States Army during the Vietnam war. He would always say that he slept with one eye open. I always wondered about that, how can one sleep with only one eye closed?

I figured this was as good as a time as any to try it. I laid on my left side and leaned my back against the wall. I rested my head on my left arm and looked at the door to the hallway. I closed my left eye and tried to fall asleep. I was starting to see why my uncle went crazy. I never got to sleep.

That's when the voices started again:

"Welcome to the Hotel California. Such a lovely place. Plenty of room at the Hotel California, any time of year."

"Holy crap!" I whispered to myself.

I crawled back over to Big Luke who had left his 1911 sitting next to him. I was kinda hesitant about grabbing it because I knew that Big Luke was a light sleeper and the grip might shock me. I was never sure whether it was the holster that was magic or the gun itself.

I eventually worked up the courage to grab the grip of the .45. I weighed it in my hand, it was pretty heavy for what it was. The slide and frame were both machined stainless steel and the slide was painted black. I wrapped my fingers around the dark wood grips and moved back to my spot on the wall.

I didn't lay down this time, I just sat up and held the handgun in my right hand. I got bored so I slipped the safety off to see how loud it was. The action of moving the lever on the frame into the OFF-position was solid but very little sound. I reengaged the safety and left it there. I didn't want to wear it out.

I leaned my head against the wall as I stared at the door. I kept my knees bent and kept the 1911 in my right hand. I didn't have my bow or any of my guns with me. I was hoping that Big Luke didn't hurt me for touching his gun.

I started to hear footsteps outside the door in the hallway. It sounded like only one, maybe two sets of feet. They weren't loud but they definitely made a sound. Nobody else woke up as I drew down on the door. I got kind of nervous behind the trigger because Brandon and Bob were laying on the floor in my line of sight.

I put the dot on the front sight (which glowed in the dark from the tritium inside it) on the peephole on the door. I lined up the other two dots from the rear sight next to it. I clicked the gun off safety and rested my elbows on my knees. I sat there and waited, not moving a muscle.

The door handle shuffled, it didn't turn, it just moved. I didn't pull the trigger because I didn't know what was on the other side. One of the first rules that Big Luke taught us was to only shoot when you know what your target was and what was beyond it. I had a pretty good idea what was beyond my target, but I didn't know who or what my target was.

I was genuinely scared. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears and my breathing was starting to escalate. I had never been woken up by anything, but voices? I wasn't sure if I was scared for what was behind the door or for my sanity.

The handle stopped shuffling and I stood up. I pushed with my legs and slid my back against the wall so I could keep Big Luke's gun pointed at the door. I crept over Brandon and Bob who were still fast asleep. I squatted down next to the door handle and put my hand on it. I took a deep breath and slowly turned the handle. I pulled the door open just a crack so I could see down the right side of the hallway.

Nobody.

I heard footsteps moving from the left side, the side I couldn't see. The footsteps got closer and closer until they stopped right by our door. Whatever was in that hallway was right on the other side of the wall from me. I just sat there motionless for what felt like a eternity.

Whatever was there turned around and walked back down the hallway. I waited for the steps to be far down the hallway when I pulled the door the rest of the way open and looked, pointing the handgun down the hallway. Just as I did that, the footsteps ceased to exist, as if they were never there. I saw nothing out of the ordinary and definitely nothing would have made those footsteps.

"Hey!" I heard behind me.

It scared the Hades out of me as I spun around on the floor and was about to pull the trigger on the 1911. Big Luke grabbed the barrel and twisted the weapon out of my hands. I hadn't heard him walk up behind me.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" he asked me.

"I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. The door handle started moving and I heard footsteps," I started rambling on about what I did and Big Luke just sat there and listened.

"OK," he said.

He stepped out of the room and moved up and down the hallway. When he didn't find anything, he came back.

"Well, your right. There's nothing there."

"Your not going to kill me for taking you gun, are you?" I asked him.

He just smiled, "You didn't bring anything in with you. I probably would have done the same thing."

Big Luke closed the door to the room and reholstered his 1911. Then he walked over Brandon and Bob and took a seat at the table. He pulled out a cleaning kit and started to clean his 1911. I sat across from him and studied the map some more.

"I asked the lady for a 0600 wake up call," Big Luke said.

"That's pretty early."

"I want to get out of here as soon as possible. Probably get out of here by six forty-five or seven," he replied.

"Where do you want to start? I mean it's going to take forever to search the entire state of Indiana," I asked.

"He's gotta blow off some steam somehow. I'm thinking we look in the honkytonks and bars and ask around for any crazy guys in the area. He's also gotta be hiding out someplace that is close to civilization so he can get supplies," he replied.

We talked quietly for a few more hours and waited for everybody else to wake up. Right at six in the morning, the telephone rang and woke Fyoder up. He rolled over and answered the phone in Russian, apparently it was too early for English. Dasha grabbed the phone from him.

"Hello?" she asked.

She paused for a moment.

"OK, thank you," she hung up. "Six A.M?"

"Yep, I want to get out of here and get started, ASAP," replied Big Luke, he said "ASAP" like "A-sap".

We spent the next forty-five minutes to an hour getting ready. I changed into a blue T-shirt and basketball shorts. If it was going to be eighty degrees, I wanted to be comfortable.

We were all ready to checkout and were heading for the stairs. That's when I wanted to tell Big Luke "I told you so".


	10. Chapter 10

_**Author's Note:**__** should tell you that I have added five chapters on this update. I just figure that people want a little more action than talking so I added more. Update started at Chapter 6.**_

Big Luke

At this point I was waiting for the moment when we get back to KATE and David gives me the "I told you so" speech.

We were walking down the hallway when we saw two guys standing by the entryway to the stairs. They were easily seven feet tall and around three-hundred pounds. They were also Identical twins with perfectly round heads and big brawny shoulders. When we reached the entryway and both guys stepped to the center, blocking the way.

"Excuse me fellas but we need to get through there," I said.

"Please, you must stay for breakfast," said the one on the right in a deep voice.

Now, at this point, I knew that staying at the Hotel California was a bad idea.

"When's breakfast?" I asked.

"Eight," the one on the left said.

"Now, see that's too late. We need to get going. So, if you guys will step aside, we will be on our marry way," I said as I tried to push my way through.

"Not a chance," said the guy on the right as they both pushed me back.

I didn't like getting pushed off balance, that and punching me in the nose are the two things that will get me fired up the most. I went for the guy on the right, it was fight time.

I put my fists up and I could see out of the corner of my eye, Brandon and David going for the other guy. I saw over my right shoulder five more of the goons coming our way, they were all identical.

Goon One came at me as I came him. I pushed on his chest while using my right foot to sweep his left leg out from under him. He fell back hard and I got on top him. I took one swing at his nose and I knew these were not human. His nose felt like concrete when I punched it. I shook my hand and stood up.

I drew my 1911 and put three rounds into the goons head. Nothing but sparks and wires flew from his cranium. I felt something crash into me from behind and I stumbled a little bit, dropping my 1911. Whatever crashed into me wrapped their arms around me. I kind of liked it when Brittany did it, but this hurt as the tree-trunks around me now squeezed like a python.

I swung my elbows back and I hit both funny bones on something hard. I ignored the pain and reached under and grabbed the goons leg. I rolled into my right shoulder and we went to the floor. I thrusted forward with my hips as I pulled on the leg, enough force to rip the leg right off of any normal human being. This leg was just bent back and began to spark. The robot didn't try to scream, it felt no pain.

I heard my 1911 going off and I stood up. Brandon was unloading on his robot and engaging David's after his stopped moving. Fyoder did the same with his and his team, they had brought in some handguns with them. I saw the slide lock back on my gun and Brandon tossed it to me. I grabbed a mag from my left side and slipped into the mag-well. I hit the slide release, chambering a round.

"We need to get out of here," said Brandon.

We walked down the stairs and into the lobby. The happy lady at the front desk saw us and said, "Welcome to the hotel California".

"We are ready to check out," I said as Eagles lyrics started to play through my head.

"You can checkout any time you like, but you can never-" she never finished the line because I drew my 1911 again and put three rounds into her robot head.

Sparks flew from her cranium as she fell to the floor.

Two more grunts stood in front of the door and I backed up to the wall. Fyoder did the same and we charged the grunts. We lowered our shoulders as we plowed through the guards. The doors came off the hinges as we fell on top of the grunts. I put three rounds in the one I was on top of and Fyoder did the same. The rest of the crew came out and we walked towards KATE.

David was walking up next to me and before he could say anything, I said, "Don't even say it. I know. You told me so".

David just smiled and KATE popped her doors open. Brandon, David and I got in and Dasha knelt down next to Brandon's window on the passenger's side.

"Where do you guys want to meet?" she asked.

Brandon, who wasn't part of the conversation earlier, looked at me.

"Follow us on I65 heading South," said David from the backseat.

"I guess we'll see you over the I65," said Brandon with a smile.

She smiled back and the other team started walking back to their chopper. Kate started her engine but I just sat there for a minute. I had considered calling the shop back at camp. I just kind of zoned out for a minute, starring at the two busted drones that now laid in the parking lot. I knew that Brittany was worried but I decided to let her call me if something happened.

"What's up? We need to get going," said Brandon.

"Sorry. Just zoned out," I said as I backed out of our spot and headed for the interstate.

We stopped once to get breakfast and then it was back to the road. We drove for a while and I would stop every now and then at a local bar or something to that nature and walk inside. The Hind wouldn't be far away and neither was KATE and my friends. They couldn't come in because they were under age. Being twenty-two, I could pretty much go in any place I wanted as long as I had ID. I'd flash my driver's license to who ever felt that they needed to ask and go about my business.

After the incident in Ohio, we decided to stay in constant radio contact with the chopper. Which meant that we would talk every three hours or so, no where near constant.

We arrived at a strip club and I asked KATE to scan the premises for any monsters as I had been doing all day. It was around five in the evening and the place was starting to get a little busy.

"I detect anywhere from two to five non-human life forms in the establishment," KATE replied.

"OK, patch me through to the Hind. Please?" I asked.

I could probably take whatever was in there but I wasn't entirely sure what I was up against.

I heard Bob's voice answer in Russian.

"I need to talk to Fyoder, Bob. Patch him through," I told him.

He said something angrily in Russian and Fyoder's voice came next, "Yes?"

"KATE says that there could be between two and five monsters in this building. I'd like to have you tag along to help out of need be," I asked.

"Oh, little American is afraid of a few monsters?" he asked and my hand clenched into a fist unintentionally.

"Uh oh," I heard Brandon say to my right.

"Look, Ruskie. I'm ain't afraid of nothing, especially not some eastern-European fuckwad with a furry hat. I'm going in there, with or without you. You could join me in the matter or you can hide way up there in your peice-of-shit Russian helicopter. Your choice," I replied.

That got his attention, you insult a man's guts and his hat and he'll give into any challenge you throw at him.

"See you on ground," he replied.

We were parked behind the establishment when the Hind came in over the parking lot. I climbed out and leaned up against KATE. Rotor wash pushed my shirt against my stomach and my sunglasses kept the dust from my eyes. We watched as the fast ropes fell from the left side of the aircraft and saw Fyoder slide down from the hovering chopper. I left my radio and my body armor in the trunk, I didn't want Fyoder to give me any more grief.

I tapped the fender twice to let my team know that I was going in. They waved back and I headed over to where Fyoder had landed. He had this look on his face like _Yeah, that's how we do it in Russia. _I just nodded towards the direction I wanted to go and he followed me. We made it to the front door of the club and I fished out my wallet. Fyoder did the same and we showed the guy at the front door our ID's.

The guy was tall and muscular but I still dwarfed him by a few pounds and inches. He had a shaved head and was holding a cup of coffee. He studied our ID's for a brief second and unclipped the rope that stood in our way.

I had seen the same tactic in other places and I didn't understand it. How was a red rope connecting two poles that weren't even bolted down, going to stop anybody. Maybe the big bouncer out front was supposed to do most of the work of keeping people out that were not welcome. Or it was just a sign of the conformity that we as a nation had to now live by, _You cant cross this line until I say so_. The general population in this country these days live in this world that tells them that they have to live their lives a certain way. Get born, go to school, go to college, get a good paying job, have offspring, repeat. And they call this success. Anything else is unacceptable. The more I thought about it, the more frustrated I became with the inanimate object that was the red rope.

"You guys are good," the bouncer said and we walked inside.

Everything was dark except for a few lamps over some pool tables and the strobe lights by the stage. There were several stripper-poles on the stage and several, well, strippers on them. The bar ran along the back wall and there was a single bartender behind the dark stained wooden counter. There was some Def Leopard playing in the background and several people, mostly males, in the booths next to the stage. I watched in disgust as they gawked at the dancers onstage.

Fyoder and I split up and started mingling with some of the people in the club. I talked to several people who didn't seem to pay me much attention, they would respond with one word answers like "Yes" or "No" or "Takeitoff".

I took a seat in front of this one guy who seemed normal, just eating a cheeseburger and had a Miller Light next to his plate. He was wearing a pair of stained overalls and a striped shop shirt underneath it. He had a _Buster's Auto Shop_ cap on his head and he looked like he had gotten off work not too long ago. He had calluses on his hands and weary eyes that were a product of a Friday night after a long work week. He held a couple fries in his right hand and wouldn't stop fiddling with a fork in his left.

"Good evening,sir. I had a couple of questions for you and was wondering if you had a few minutes to chat," I asked.

"You law?" he asked between a few draws on his Miller Light.

"No, sir. Just looking for someone," I responded.

"I don't know how much help I'd be. I don't know too many people that might have somebody lookin' for 'em," he said, moving back to the cheeseburger.

"Well, maybe you've seen someone that meets my description. I'm looking for a man who might be a little creepy. He's pretty smart but would give people an uneasy feeling. He might wear a lab coat or overalls or something of that nature. He probably mutters things about gods or other crazy things like that under his breath," I chuckled on the last part and I heard thunder rumble outside.

"I don't think Zeus liked that," said the man.

I just kind of looked at him, "What do you mean?"

"Come on, man. I knew the second you and that other guy walked in here that you were demigods. I'm a son of Hephaestus. Name's Buster," the man said as he reached across the table and I shook his hand.

"Yeah? Me too, man," I replied.

"No fuckin' way. Your a son of Ares and every monster in this room knows it," Buster replied. "Your dog tags around your neck give you away."

"That's where your wrong. I am a soldier but I joined the Marine Corps before I ever got to camp. That's why I seem like an Ares kid. That dipshit I walked in with is one though."

"OK. So, tell me more about this creeper that your looking for."

"He's a mortal scientist that built these weapons and he is planning to use them against Camp Half-Blood and the gods. I don't have a name or a location except for this state."

"I remember my time at camp, some thirty-five years now. I had a good time there, hate to see it go. I don't know anything about any crazy guys but I have heard of a abandoned trailer park down south a ways that the locals say that there is some pretty crazy stuff. You might want to go talk to Joe behind the bar, he knows everybody that comes in here," Buster told me.

I thanked Buster and got up to go to the bar. I took a seat at the bar and called the bartender.

"What can I get you?" he asked.

"A name and a address if you got it," I replied. "I'm looking for someone and I heard that you might be able to help me out."

"You got a description?" Joe asked.

I gave him my description, I had no idea what the scientist looked like, I was just running on assumptions. I tried to hide the fact that I was a demigod. I couldn't tell with this guy but I wasn't about to give myself away.

"I've seen a guy that might fit that description. He usually hides out in one of those back rooms over there," Joe replied, pointing over to a short hallway with lots of small rooms, only one of them had a door.

"The one with the door?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Thank you very much," I said as I started for Fyoder who was mingling with a few dancers.

"Hey, mister," I heard behind me I turned around.

"Don't fuck up my bar," Joe told me.

I just nodded and turned for Fyoder. He hadn't moved all evening.

"Come on. He might be in that room back there," I told him.

He was busy watching the girls from a booth seat, "Hmm?"

"Get up. Let's go," I told him and he stood up.

We crept down the hallway and drew our pistols. My plan was not to kill the guy but people tend to do what they are told when you have a gun to their face. The door was on the right hand side of the wall and the handle was on the right side of the door.

Fyoder was on the left and I was on the right. I pointed my 1911 at the floor in front of me. Fyoder and I had a silent conversation that lasted about three seconds. I was going to kick in the door and Fyoder was going to take point into the room.

I stood with my back up against the wall so I faced away from the door. I kicked back on the door and it busted open. Fyoder raised his gun and walked inside. I quickly followed him, pointing my 1911 around the room.

The first thing that hit me was the smell of the room. It reeked of cigarette smoke and for good reason. Ash trays littered the tables filled with cigarette buts. There was a single table in the middle of the room which was surrounded by a round booth seat. There was a small sound system in the corner but nothing was playing. Completely empty of all life with the exception of Fyoder and I.

"I thought you said he was here?" asked Fyoder.

"Joe never actually said that he was here. He just said that there was a guy that fit our description and he hung out back here every now and then," I replied.

We stepped out of the room and immediately came into some opposition. Two snake-women, a Laistrygonian giant, three Telekhines and two mortal military contractors with HK45's in their hands all standing five feet away from us. The snake-women had two long curved swords made of bronze where the Telekhines only had a single sword each. The two PMC were dressed casually with sweatshirts and khaki cargo pants. The two PMC drew down on us.

"Drop your weapons," one of them said. _Fuck._

_**Author's Note:**__**So, I've posted ten chapters now and nobody has written a review. Other than me, of course. So, please: if you have read this far, please write a review! Your feedback (Positive or negative it doesn't matter)will be much appreciated!**_


	11. Chapter 11

Brandon

"Fuck, what's taking them so long?" asked David who had moved up to the driver's seat.

"They haven't been in there for too long," I replied.

We were playing a game of tic-tact-toe on KATE's windshield. I was winning for the most part until David learned my strategy. Then I had to move to a different one. I could hear the Hind circling above us as we started what felt like our thousandth game.

"I'm bored," said David.

"I have a wide selection of games and movies to choose from," offered KATE.

I looked past the holographic game on the windshield towards the back door of the club. Why? Because a private mercenary from Luke's army came crashing through it and landed on the pavement. He stood up unsteadily as if he had a broken leg.

"KATE, I need a gun," I asked and a compartment on the door panel opened, exposing a Sig Sauer P226 strapped to the inside of the panel.

I got tired of wearing my M9 hours ago. So, I had taken it off and put it in the trunk.

I pulled the P226 out and ejected the magazine, full with standard ammunition. I pulled the slide back just enough to expose the round in the chamber. I released the slide and put the mag back in.

I opened the door which swung out to ninety degrees and I took cover behind it. David opened his door and two arms swung out from the bottom of the car. The arms were holding a really short M4 with a red dot sight and a ten inch barrel. It had a standard retractable stock and a thirty round magazine. The arms uncurled from around the receiver and David picked it up. He went through the same procedure that I did to check the chamber and the magazine. It wasn't necessary because we knew that Big Luke never kept a gun unloaded in case it was needed, like in this situation.

David and I took cover behind KATE's doors and drew down on the PMC who was stumbling back into the bar. I was about to yell at him to stop but Big Luke threw himself at the merc. He tackled the merc but landed horizontally on the merc's chest, sending both of them out of the door. That's when I realized that Big Luke didn't tackle the merc voluntarily, he was thrown into him.

Big Luke elbowed the merc in the face, knocking him unconscious. He got right back up with this look of absolute loathing on his face as he charged back into the bar. I looked over to David.

"You want to go in after him?" I asked.

"Might as well," he replied.

We got out from behind our cover and I took point. We entered the hallway where Fyoder was fighting with a Telekhine and David fired a quick two rounds at the monster. It exploded in smoke and monster dust.

"Where's Big Luke?" I asked.

"In there," replied Fyoder, pointing to the main room.

David and I ran into the main room and Big Luke was dragging a Lastygonians giant across the bar counter. There were dancers trying to run around the room in their tall heels. I saw a merc draw down on Big Luke. I placed my sights on his back and pulled the trigger on the P226 three times. There was no pink mist that flew from behind him as he landed on his face. He was probably wearing body armor. I ran up to him and rolled him over with my foot. He was clutching at his back where my rounds had landed. I put the heel of my shoe in his nose and knocked him out.

David dropped a few Telekhines and a dracaenae who were closing in on Big Luke who had finished off the giant. We rallied together in the middle of the room with Big Luke. One sleeve of his shirt had been torn at the seem on the shoulder. He was breathing heavily and there was a small cut on his right cheek. Not deep, but enough to have a thin line of blood to trickle from both ends.

"You got a little something on your face," David said, pointing at Big Luke's cheek.

Big Luke used the torn sleeve to wipe his cheek. He looked at his sleeve, "I don't remember that one."

"You'll probably need stitches," I said.

"Your face will be the last of your worries," we heard from behind the bar. That and the classic sound of a pump-action shotgun.

"Hit the deck!" exclaimed Big Luke and we fell on our faces.

We started crawling for the exit as shotgun rounds went flying over our heads. I started to count the rounds, 1, 2, 3, 4 and a pause. I poked my head up and saw what must have been the bartender reloading his Remington 870 from a box of shells that was setting on the counter.

"Run!" I yelled and we made a break for the door.

We made it outside where Fyoder was standing around waiting for us.

"What is your problem?" asked Big Luke quite agitatedly.

"What? I left," Fyoder replied.

"You son of a bitch. We could've been killed!"

"Possibly," he shrugged.

"That's it, that's it! I've had it with you people," exclaimed Big Luke. After about a week around the new team, he finally cracked.

"Would you prefer that we split up?"

"Damn straight."

"Well, when my team finds the scientist first, Chiron will make my team the _only _Strike Team and you will be unemployed," said Fyoder.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Big Luke started chuckling ironically. "Challenge accepted. Hopefully, I'll never see you again. Let's go," he commanded and we got back in the car.

"What happened in there?" I asked.

"He threw me into that PMC guy! Then he just left!" he wouldn't stop yelling, he was thoroughly pissed.

Big Luke didn't yell or scream unless he needed to be heard. We could hear him just fine at that moment.

We watched as the Hind picked Fyoder up. The rope ladder came down and Fyoder climbed it all the way to the chopper.

Big Luke drove out of the bar's parking lot but not until laying rubber all the way out to the street. Then continuing the rubber burning for another block. Big Luke stopped a few miles out and stitched up his cheek with some first-aid supplies that were in the trunk. He laid a bandage over the cut and kept driving. We just drove South on I65 and stopped at every bar or strip club so Big Luke could go inside. Every time, he managed to get in a fight with someone. He never got any information that would help us.

We stopped at a bar about a hundred miles from the Indiana-Tennessee border. Big Luke walked in. He had changed his shirt and the long-sleeve button up went from blue to gray. He was still kind of mad. When he drove, he went about twenty miles an hour above the speed limit and his knuckles were white as he gripped the wheel with his left hand.

He was in there for about ten or fifteen minutes when he came walking back out. Nobody in a headlock or thrown out the door in front of him. Big Luke was carrying a napkin that he hadn't walked in with. He climbed in the car.

"Dr. Ryan Speck," said Big Luke. "That's our guy."

"Speck means bacon in German," I said.

David laughed, "Bacon, really?"

"Yep," I replied.

"Anyway, we need to find an address. Maybe check the phone book or something?" asked Big Luke.

"Or you could Google him," David suggested.

"Actually, phone book would be better," I said. "It will narrow our search from the whole world of Ryan Speck's to just those in Indiana."

It was getting to be dark and KATE turned the headlights on. I could see on Big Luke's face that he was debating with himself about what to do next.

"OK," he finally said. "It's getting late. We can either find a place to sleep or we can keep looking to get ahead of Fyoder and his squad. What do you guys want to do?"

"Look, wherever we stay, don't make it the Hotel California again," said David.

"I kinda want to keep looking," I mentioned.

"I would agree. I want to get ahead of the other squad or keep up. One of the two," said Big Luke.

"You have a call from New York," KATE informed us.

"Put 'em through," said Big Luke. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me," said Brittany's voice through the sound system in the car.

"Hey, what's up?" asked Big Luke.

"You alone?" she asked back.

"No. David and I are here too," I said.

"Hey, Brittany," said David from the back seat.

"Hey you guys. How's the search going?" Brittany asked.

"We've made a small breakthrough: we got a name, Dr. Ryan Speck. What can we help you with?" asked Big Luke.

"I'll talk to you about it later. Can I help you out by looking this guy up for you?" she replied.

Big Luke looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders like _Might as well. _I guess she just wanted to help out.

"Sure, why not," Big Luke responded.

"OK. Give me a second," Brittany replied as we heard her typing on the keyboard.

"You sound tired. You have a long day?" asked Big Luke.

"I couldn't sleep last night. I'll tell you about it later," she said again. "OK, here we go. He used to be a professor at Stanford but was fired for excessive study in his field."

"How excessive was it?" I asked.

"Trying to bring his wife back to life," Brittany replied.

"That's pretty excessive," David put in. "How did she die?"

"She was struck by a drunk driver."

Instantly I had an idea. "Brittany, do me a favor and look into the law suit with the drunk driver. See if it says anything about the gods or anything similar."

"OK, I'll look into it. Hang on."

"Trying to find a motive. Smart," said Big Luke.

"Whoever it was, he's probably still in prison. We could pay him a visit," suggested David.

"That's not a bad idea either, David," replied Big Luke.

"You guys still there?" asked Brittany.

"Yeah."

"OK, so, the driver's name was Max Kites," said Brittany. "It doesn't say where he went to prison."

"OK, well, we'll keep looking. How's everything at camp?" asked Big Luke.

She gave us a halfhearted description of Daedalus's labyrinth and how Percy and his friends were going down into it on a quest. She sounded like she hadn't slept in days even though we had just saw her yesterday.

"OK, well, I guess I'll leave you guys to your search. Talk to you later," said Brittany.

We said our goodbyes and KATE hung up.


	12. Chapter 12

David

That night, we found a hotel with a few empty rooms and we rented three. Big Luke told us to request a six AM wake up call again. The phone rang right at six and I answered.

"Hello?" I asked groggily.

"Hi, this is Tina at the front desk calling for your six o' clock wake up call," said the lady on the phone.

"OK. Thank you," I said and I hung up.

I got up and got my clothes on for the day, a pair of black basketball shorts, my white Nike's and a navy blue T-shirt. I brushed my teeth and headed out to meet my friends in the lobby.

Brandon was the only one there. He was dressed in his usual cargo shorts and running shoes, only now he was wearing a white long sleeve shirt. The sleeves were pushed up to his elbows and he was spinning his livestrong wristband around his wrist. He was seated in a couch as he waited.

"Where's Big Luke?" I asked as I took a seat in the adjacent couch.

"He sounded like he was on the phone when I walked by," he replied.

We waited around until we saw Big Luke come down from the stairs right at seven.

"What's up, fellas?" he asked as he buttoned the cuffs on his button-up shirt.

"Not much. Where do you want to go for breakfast? I'm starving," I said as I stood up.

We left the hotel and found an IHOP somewhere down the road. I had a simple breakfast platter with bacon, pancakes, sour dough toast and scrambled eggs. Brandon had a bowl of oatmeal and Big Luke was having biscuits and gravy. It took us a while to get a seat with the Saturday rush.

"So, what's the plan for today?" asked Brandon, now halfway into his bowl of oatmeal.

Big Luke's eyes were on his breakfast but his mind was somewhere else. "I think that we need to start looking around for trailer parks around here. I've got an idea that might work to speed up the process," he finally answered.

"What's your idea?" I asked.

"Using a UAV to scan above trailer parks and see what we can see."

We finished our meal and Big Luke picked up the tab. We walked outside and hit the road. We drove on the freeway for a while until we turned onto a back road that went past several trailer parks. I felt that Dr. Speck could be living in anyone of them. We pulled over to the side of the road and Big Luke got out. Brandon and I followed his lead as he walked back to the driver side quarter panel of the car.

"KATE, can you switch to the UAV filler cap?" asked Big Luke.

The filler cap was large and protruded from the quarter panel of the car. Rather than "FUEL" written on it, it read "C4". We watched as the filler cap sunk into the body. We heard gears turning for a second and a identical filler cap rose above the quarter panel. This filler cap read "UAV" in the same font as "C4".

"OK, that's cool," Brandon said as he stared in awe at the ingenious idea that was the multiple filler caps.

I could see on Brandon's face that he had many questions about the UAV, and he was going to ask them. "What powers it?" he asked.

""It's got a small battery that the alternator charges," replied Big Luke as the two stared at the filler cap.

"What does it look like when it's ready to fly?"

"I'll show you," Big Luke walked to the trunk and KATE popped it open for him.

He lifted a laptop and a joystick controller from the truck and closed the lid. The laptop was one like a cop might have. It had a rugged silver casing and its own carry handle. Big Luke set the laptop on the deck lid and flipped the screen open. He plugged the joystick into the side of the laptop and waited for the computer to boot up.

"KATE, activate the UAV, please?" he asked.

Instantly the filler cap detached itself from the quarter panel and sprouted small metallic legs. It walked over to the opposite side of the of the laptop. Big Luke pressed the release button on the side and the filler cap sprouted four small rotor wings around its circumference. Big Luke opened up an application on the computer and there was nothing but black in the small window.

"KATE, connect to the UAV, please?" asked Big Luke.

"I have established a connection," replied KATE.

"OK, lets see how this baby flies," he said as he pulled the trigger on the joystick.

The rotor blades on the filler cap began to spin and the thing lifted off into the air. It flew up about three feet above our heads. On the screen, I saw Big Luke with his elbows on the deck lid as he controlled the UAV. Brandon was looking up at the UAV and I was standing next to him looking at the screen.

I looked up at the UAV. It was hard to see against the cloudy sky but the black spot on the camera lens gave it away.

"What happened to the weather?" asked Brandon and I finally realized what he was taking about.

The sky had become overcast since that morning which had been bright and sunny. Now it was at least fifteen to twenty degrees colder and looked as if it could start raining any minute.

"I don't know," I said, still staring at the sky and the little silver disk that was hovering in the sky.

"KATE, can you take over?" asked Big Luke who didn't seem concerned over the weather.

"Yes I can," she replied.

Big Luke let go of the joystick and the UAV didn't fall or stumble. It just flew up higher and started circling the surrounding area. Brandon and I stood on either side of Big Luke as we crowded around the laptop.

We watched on the screen at all the trailer parks in the area. Most were inhabited with people that couldn't live anywhere else but a trailer park. Many of the small communities had a combination of mobile trailers and semi-permanent double-wides. Others were one or the other. There were old cars from the late seventies and engines laying around or hanging from trees. Several people in tank tops sitting in lawn chairs with their feet soaking in plastic kiddy pools. Who ever wasn't in a lawn chair was hanging clothes out on a clothesline to dry. Kids were running around and throwing mud or sticks or whatever they could find at each other.

We kept watching for a few hours or so until the UAV moved to one park in particular. Nobody was outside and there were no cars in the yards. Several old and abandoned double-wides littered the park. Everything had a darker shade over it as if the clouds were thicker there.

The UAV got about halfway across the park when the screen went black.

"We lost connection," said Big Luke. "KATE, how far did it get?"

"About twenty-two point three four miles North," KATE replied.

"It was knocked out of the sky," said Big Luke. "That UAV has a range of fifty miles easy. Someone or something knocked it out of the sky."

"That's got to be our trailer park then," said Brandon.

"Yeah. Can KATE locate the UAV's last position?" I asked.

"Yes I can," said the car.

A holographic image of a map popped up from the spot where the UAV had been. There was a road that we were on traced in yellow against a blue background.

We climbed back in the car and Big Luke followed the yellow line that was now plastered on the windshield. Eventually we made our way into a forest and the pavement turned to gravel.

"KATE, let me know when we are two clicks out, please?" asked Big Luke.

"Certainly," replied KATE.

We drove for a few more minutes and KATE informed us that we were two kilometers outside of our destination. Big Luke pulled the car over and we got out. It was time to get kitted up. As tradition stated, we got our gear ready in silence. Mentally preparing for what was about to happen. Afterward we could ask whatever questions we might have. Normally I didn't have too many questions, but today I had several.

"So, which double-wide is the target?" I asked.

"All of them. We clear each one until we find our guy," he responded.

"You want me at over watch?" I asked.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea," he responded. "Find a elevated position and take some armor piercing rounds with you. Just in case."

I picked up two spare mags for my M110 that were loaded up with armor piercing rounds. I dropped them into my left cargo pocket on my BDU pants. This way when I'm looking down range and my rifle is shouldered, I can reload quickly without having to reach across my body.

"Anymore questions?" asked Big Luke.

"What do we do when we find him?" asked Brandon.

"Cuff him if possible. Shoot him if necessary," he replied with little to no emotion.

"Wanted dead or alive?" I asked.

Big Luke just nodded, "Mm Hmm."

"What do we do with the weapons?" I asked.

"Destroy them. One is an organism and the other is some kind of machine. We have no way of taming an organism and we don't know what size the weapon is. Make it easy and just destroy them both," he replied. "Take care KATE. Stay in contact."

Big Luke tapped the fender twice as we set out on our hike. We walked in and around the trees, using them for cover as we trekked through the brush. The branches on the trees were high up so it was easy to walk. I was amazed at how well Big Luke could keep his feet quiet with all the sticks and twigs on the ground.

When we were about half a kilometer out of the trailer park, I split off from the team and started heading for some higher ground. The whole trailer park was located at the bottom of a large bowl. I found the second to highest peak and set up shop.

I dug my spare mags that I got from KATE's trunk out of my pocket and placed them next to my FFP or Final Firing Position. I put my ghillie suit on. I had swapped out my new white and black one that I used for snow environments for my green and brown one for woodland areas. I stuffed it with twigs and other things from my surroundings to help me blend in. I laid prone and faced the trailer park at the bottom of the bowl.

Looking through my scope, I tried to find my team. I knew that we entered from the South but the brush was so thick that I couldn't see them.

"Hawkeye to Red 5 and MacGyver: what is your twenty? Over," I asked over my radio.

Just as I said it, I felt a rain drop land on my arm. Then another landed on my back. It wasn't long until it was raining sheets and I was soaked. I had to turn up the volume on my radio just to hear over the rain pounding on the forest around me.

"MacGyver to Hawkeye: we are approaching the South side of the trailer park. We are about to clear the first double-wide. Over," I heard Brandon through my headset.

"Good copy," I replied.

I put my scope on the first trailer to the South side of the park. I saw Big Luke and Brandon stacked up on the door, Big Luke on the right with the handle and Brandon reaching across the door on the left. Brandon was melting the handle as Big Luke covered them both.

I started looking around at all of the windows on the trailers, scanning for any targets. I couldn't see anything. Then I heard the sound of rotor blades over head. I looked up away from my scope to see a Russian MiL-24 fly right over my head.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Author's**__**Note:**__**I know this is a very quick update, but I was home sick from school and got bored. So, enjoy! R&R!  
**_

Brandon

"Looks like we got company," said Big Luke as the Hind started to hover above the most Northern part of the trailer park. "This should get interesting."

Big Luke and I were already soaked and I was shivering. It seemed odd that it was raining in the summer time. I didn't know why the weather never seemed to effect Big Luke, he just always seemed to be impervious to it.

Three of the four people on the aircraft fast roped down to Earth. Fyoder went for one trailer on his own whereas Dasha and Bob moved towards another. They kicked in doors and entered. I was so focused on the Hind and the other team that I forgot about the door handle that I had melted through.

I pushed the door open and Big Luke stepped inside. When we reached the end of the entryway, I went right as Big Luke cleared left.

The trailer looked as if it hadn't been inhabited in years, everything was covered in dust and there was no furniture whatsoever. The trailer had this mustiness to it that was hard to overcome. Rain pounded on the metal roof which made it slightly hard to hear.

As I moved into the bathroom on the right I saw a big gaping hole with a ladder going all the way down where the toilet should of been. Nobody in the bathroom or on the ladder. I moved into the first bedroom on the right. My arms had settled down but my legs were still shaking. The door was unlocked so I just turned the handle and stepped inside, shouldering my H&K 416. I could hear across the trailer that Big Luke had cleared. He went with a little more aggressive approach with the doors by kicking each one in. I saw no targets in either of the bedrooms as I cleared them.

"MacGyver to Red 5: All clear but I got something you should see," I relayed to Big Luke through my radio as I moved back to the bathroom.

"Rog'," replied Big Luke.

I crouched next to the ladder and examined the hole. It looked like someone had taken a jackhammer to the tile floor and used a cutting torch to cut through the metal sub-frame. They dug the rest of the tunnel out with shovels most likely. No way to get a bulldozer or excavator in the double-wide. The ladder didn't look trustworthy at all, it was merely several rungs made from thin stamped steel that were bent in and shoved into the dirt wall. Each one was individually set and used no guide rails.

Big Luke walked in and scooted around to the opposite side of the hole from where I was standing. He squatted down and looked it over as well.

"So, what do you think?" he asked.

"I think you'd be crazy to climb down that thing. It looks too weak to hold any real weight," I replied.

We continued to stare at the hole. I was about to make a suggestion but was stopped by the sound of a single gunshot from somewhere outside of the trailer.

"That can't be good," said Big Luke and I simultaneously.

We ran out of the double-wide and looked North to the other end of the trailer park where we saw Dasha and Bob running towards the trailer that Fyoder had breached. We sprinted for the trailer but Dasha and Bob had already entered. We crashed through the door and tore apart every room until we found ourselves in the master bedroom. Dasha and Bob were standing around a short man with long stringy white hair.

He was small in stature and wore a almost white lab coat. It was covered in stains of all colors including one in the middle of his chest. The stain was his own blood which was oozing from a giant hole in his chest. His head was laid back against his office chair and his green eyes were still open. His stare was so blank yet his expression was that of shock. Next to the dead man in the chair was another gaping hole with another ladder.

"This must be the HVT. Dr. Ryan Speck," said Big Luke.

"I suppose so," said Dasha.

Big Luke started for the ladder which I said that you would have to be crazy to use but Dasha stopped him.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Your boyfriend is going to need help with the weapons assuming they're down there. I'm going in after him," replied Big Luke as he started going down the ladder.

"Well, what do you want us to do?" I asked.

"Keep clearing the other trailers. The secondary objective could just as easily be in there," answered Big Luke and he was gone.

We left the trailer and I made my way towards the South side of the trailer park to the double-wide next door to the one Big Luke and I cleared earlier. I kicked in the door and hoisted my 416 to my shoulder. I looked through the holographic sight as I crept into the living/dining room. There was nothing there until rounds started to come in through the walls. I nearly soiled myself before I hit the deck to avoid getting struck. I crawled over behind the bar, it seemed that the rounds were coming from the front door side of the trailer. At first, I thought the shooter was behind the bar but the rounds seemed to be coming from outside the trailer.

"MacGyver to Hawkeye: who the Hades is shooting at me?" I yelled into my microphone.

"Ow! Jeez don't yell so loud. It's Bob, they turned on us," David replied.

"Do you have a shot?" I asked as if I needed to.

"Don't you think I would have taken it already?" he replied. "He's behind a double-wide. He knows where I am and he put a freaking trailer between us."

The shooting started again. Dust and debris filled the air and the windows began to explode.

"Head for the back door and flank around," said David from my headset.

"Rog'," I replied.

I started to crawl towards the back entrance which was positioned towards the back and left of the entrance. Rounds continued to fly over my head as the trailer was cut in half by Bob's rounds. When I got to the door, I had to regain my confidence to reach up and grab the handle. Then I moved out of the trailer and back towards the North side of the trailer.

"Hawkeye to MacGyver: I have you through my scope," said David through my headset.

"Copy that. Cover me. I'm going to make a break for it."

I was leaning my left shoulder against the wall trying to catch my breath. I stood with my left foot forward and my right foot back. I held my 416 across my chest and took a deep breath. By now Bob probably figured that I was dead or out of the trailer so he stopped shooting. I was ready to sprint West to the trailer that Bob was standing behind. I got myself to take that first step, after that I was at a dead sprint. I kept my hands on my rifle as Bob opened fire at me. The rounds shot past behind me as I used my four-and-a-half second, forty yard dash time to make it across the trailer park. I heard several rounds come from my right where I figured David was positioned. David stopped firing but Bob didn't and I got a bad feeling in my gut.

When I made it to the trailer, I paused for a second to catch my breath. But I had to figure out what happened to David.

"MacGyver to Hawkeye: Come in. You alright?" I asked through my radio.

"Yeah. I'm fine. He just moved behind cover," he responded and I let out a huge sigh of relief.

I started to loop around the backside of the trailer hoping to sneak up on Bob. He was waiting for me as I came around the trailer. He tackled me to the ground. Before he was able to stab me with a knife, David put two rounds in the side of his head and neck. Red mist littered the mud next to us as he keeled over into it.

"Thanks," I said into my radio, breathing heavily.

"No problem," replied David.

Just as I was about to stand up, Fadey in the Hind came flying right over me, guns blazing. The two machine guns on either wing started firing on top of me. Thankfully, the rounds impacted right on either side of me as the chopper flew over my head.

"David, I need you to take out that Hind!" I yelled as I ran for the back door on the trailer.

"Copy that," he replied as I heard his magazine drop free from his receiver.

My guess was he was switching to the armor piercing rounds that Big Luke told him to take.

I tore off my goggles as they were fogged up and doing nothing but irritating the fuck out of me. Then I peeked out the window of the trailer.

The Hind was hovering sideways as it blanketed the hillside that David was hiding somewhere on. I took the stock of my 416 and busted the window out. I took aim on the Hind and switched the weapon to full-auto. I held the trigger down and watched as the rounds bounced of the tail rotor and the belly. I heard a couple gunshots from the hillside and saw a small explosion under the rotor winds and a big splatter of blood on the helicopter's cockpit glass. The Hind continued its horizontal glide but dived to Earth. It crashed into one of the trailers and smashed it to pieces. The carcass of the chopper sat there for a second then BOOM!, it exploded.

I ran over to the crash site thinking maybe... no, she was just like Bob and Fadey, traitors. Besides, I couldn't find anything except a leveled double-wide and the shell of a Russian MiL-24 Hind helicopter. I found another shaft with a ladder and I started to climb down it.

"Hawkeye to MacGyver: where are you going?" asked David through my headset.

"Down."

"I'll meet you down there," he came back.

"Sounds good," and I was down the ladder.

The ladder was just as rickety as I thought, each time I stepped on a rung, it bent but still held my weight. I made it all the way to the bottom rung. The shaft seemed to lead to a room with linoleum flooring about ten feet from the bottom of my feet. I had to stick my feet out the bottom of the shaft so I could hang off the bottom rung with my hands above my head. I dropped to the floor and bent my knees as I landed to absorb the shock, a trick that Big Luke taught me. I shouldered my rifle and ducked into a room to plan my next move.

I was in one of many rooms that lined a hallway which ran the length of the trailer park easy. My guess was there was another hallway of the same size that was on the other side. There were several hallways that intersected with both corridors. At each intersection was a desk much like a receptionists desk only there was no computer, only several binders and filing cabinets. Rooms lined both long hallways. Each one had old curtains on the windows and around some old hospital beds. This was some kind of underground hospital. I wanted to ask Dr. Speck about where it came from but I couldn't since he was dead.

I peeked outside a cracked window and saw Dasha running up the hallway. She was carrying only one of her MP5k's, the one with the vertical grip. Her helmet was off and so was her expression. It was a strange combination of curiosity and anxiety. She kept looking into all of the doorways as she ran by. She wasn't looking closely because she didn't bother to turn on the light. She would eventually make it to the room I was in and pass by the window first, then the door after that.

I backed up in the room and waited. I figured that I had to count to four to see her through the window. 1... 2... I waited till three to start sprinting at the window. Just as I suspected she came into view at my fourth count as I leaped and put my shoulder through the glass.

Glass shards exploded around us as I reached around her waist with my arms. My trajectory was muffed when I went through the glass so rather than tackling her at her shoulder, I had to settle for her waist. I missed her with my shoulder but was able to pull her over on top of me. Probably the worst tackle anyone's ever seen. She yelped as we landed on the ground.

I rolled over on top of her and went for my M9 on my right hip. I pressed the button on the holster and pulled the weapon out. Dasha punched me across the jaw and knocked the gun out of my hand and it skidded across the floor.

"What are you doing?" she exclaimed after she rolled over on top of me and pushed her forearm onto my throat.

"Don't give me that," I chocked. "You guys turned on us."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, still choking me.

"C'mon. You knew that Bob and Fadey were going to try to kill us up top and you and Fyoder were going to kill Big Luke down here," I said.

"That doesn't sound like them," she replied. "How do I know _your_ team hasn't turned on _us_?"

_Because we're the good guys, _I thought.

"Wait. You didn't know anything about it?" I asked as I found a way to roll her over and put her in a chicken wing.

"Ow! No, I didn't!" she said as she wiggled out of my poor chicken wing and rolled over on top of me.

We were both winded as we laid there for a minute. She held both my wrists to the floor above my head and rested her forehead against mine. She wasn't holding them down real hard and I wasn't putting up much of a fight. I found myself staring at her chin. It was awkward being so close to her. I couldn't keep my heart from beating like crazy as I tried to catch my breath. Dasha's breath smelled of fresh mint from the garden. I almost forgot that she was a daughter of Demeter. I'm sure that mine still smelled like my breakfast.

"Oatmeal?" she whispered.

"Yeah," I responded. I guess I was right.

I tried to kiss her, just fell into the moment but she left me hanging as she pulled away. I opened my eyes. _Way to go, dumbass!_

"I can't," she said.

"Right," I replied. I forgot about Fyoder. I also forgot about Big Luke who was either in a fight with the weapon or Fyoder or both.

_**Author's Note:**__** Some people have been PMing me about why I write using OC's and I would just like to direct those people now to my profile page. I explain the method to my madness there.**_


	14. Chapter 14

Big Luke

While Brandon and David were above ground in a firefight with Bob and Fadey in the chopper, I was searching for Fyoder and the weapons. At that point, I didn't know that the other team had turned on us.

I approached the grid pattern by zigzagging from one intersection to another looking for them. I came in from the North and moved South. I'd scan each room as I walked by and stop at each corner to poke my head around before moving again. I never liked hospitals. They are gross and people die in them. I was thankful that someone left the lights on, using my NVG in here would've been a nightmare. People have said that they can see ghosts by using night vision.

Speaking of nightmares. I remembered my phone call to camp earlier this morning. I talked to Brittany about this dream that she had.

"Kronos was there," she started as I sat on the hotel bed from last night. "He said that he could take Mathew away from me at anytime but would leave him alone if I joined his army."

I started to get worried. Brittany loved Mathew like I love my 1911, they were inseparable. I knew she would do anything for that little kid and that's what worried me.

I sighed into the receiver, "He's chopped into a million little pieces and can't touch Mathew." I tried to sound confident and it seemed to work slightly.

"You know what? You're probably right." If I had a nickle for every time I've heard that, I'd still be pretty broke. "But he influences lots of other people to do his dirty work. What do I do when he sends someone?"

"You know I'm always there when I can be," I said.

"What do I do when you aren't here?"

I checked the time. It was ten till seven. "I gotta go. Look, we'll talk about this when we get back."

"You better come back," her voice was stern.

"OK, see you later. Bye."

"I mean it Jon Luke," she paused for a second. "Bye," and she hung up.

Fast-forward to now in the underground hospital.

I came to a little dilemma. Continuing my zigzag pattern through the grid, I came across a set of those big hospital doors that open with the touch of a button. I was standing at an intersection peeking around the corner at the double doors. It was a left hand turn so my left shoulder was up against the wall as I peeked around it. The doors started opening and I shouldered my rifle. The bandage on my cheek made it awkward to shoot. The thing that walked through the doors was nothing I was expecting.

It was humanoid with long orange hair that was slicked back. Its face was white and expressionless. The face almost looked to be made of plastic. It didn't have any eyes only eye sockets. It was seven feet tall and muscular. It wore and orange jumpsuit that was dirty and stained. In its hands was either the coolest or craziest weapon I've ever seen.

Imagine two pump-action shotguns, one is a left handed model the other is right handed, welded together. Both guns used one wooden stock and one wooden forend. The weapon only had one trigger guard that was almost as thick as two trigger guards on a regular shotgun. Two triggers were staggered inside of the trigger guard. Each barrel was at least twenty-eight inches long and had bead sights mounted to the vented ribs. Under each barrel was at least a five shot tube making the total amount of rounds to be ten with two more in the pipes.

"Holy shit," I said just as a machine gun started ripping behind me.

I backed up a few yards back behind the wall and turned with my rifle. I saw Fyoder with his AK-74 on full auto as he peppered the thing in the jump suit. The monster didn't seemed to be phased by the rounds that were hitting it in the chest. Plenty of bullet holes littered its orange jump suit as Fyoder moved for a room on the other side of the hallway. He walked through the door just as he tanked the magazine.

The monster began switching between Fyoder and I, shooting one round into the walls in front of us. When the monster turned to shoot at Fyoder for the third time, I peeked around the corner to see the monster eject the spent shells from its Siamese pump-action shotguns. One spent shot-shell went to his right and the other flew to his left. He fired this weapon of true mass destruction from the hip. Each round of buckshot that hit the wall I was behind blew the wall apart. The hallway filled with dust and powder.

Fyoder and I waited for the shotguns to go CLICK! before we popped out from behind the walls that we were using for cover and opened fire on the monster. My rounds just flew right through the monster because the were Celestial Bronze encased. Fyoder's actually hit his target. He came prepared with regular ammunition.

Fyoder and I ran out of ammo at the same time. When we went to reload, the monster dropped the shotgun and unzipped the zipper on the front of its jumpsuit and reached under its arms into his cloths. When it pulled its hands out again, they were full with two lever action pistols, one in each hand. Judging by the size of the bore, I figured them to be forty caliber of some kind. When the monster spun the pistols in its hands, it chambered the first rounds. If I wasn't standing on the business end of the old west style weapons, I'd say they were pretty cool.

Fyoder and I dropped back behind cover as the forty calibers started crashing into the walls. I stabbed at the magazine release on the side of my receiver with my finger and caught the mag as it dropped free. I dropped the mag into my dump pouch on the lower back of of my plate carrier and slapped a new one in my M16. I tapped the bolt release and chambered a standard round. Then I held down my trigger as I aimed at the monster's chest. Now my bullets started to affect the monster.

The combination of the two assault rifles on full-auto was enough to bring the monster to one knee. I wasn't sure what this thing was but it was anything but human. A small puddle of some kind of green fluid flowed from each leg of its orange jumpsuit.

I pulled my finger out of my trigger and targeted the monsters hands which still had the lever-action pistols in them. I fired a short burst at its left hand first then the right. The hands were blown to pieces as the pistols landed on the floor. As one of the pistols hit, it went off and the round impaled itself in Fyoder's shoulder, outside his protective plate carrier. The round struck realitively high so he should have been alright for the time being.

The monster keeled over onto its face. I still had six to ten rounds in my mag so I walked up to it. I turned it over with my foot and put the remaining rounds into its white, plastic face. More green fluid spewed from its head along with pieces of its skull and chunks of its pink brain. I used my sleeve to block most of the splash from hitting me in the face.

After rolling over the body again with my foot, I walked over to Fyoder and pulled out my trauma kit. I noticed that the wooden handle that always stuck up from the back of his plate carrier was now gone and at his side. At one end of the handle was a large red ax head like a fireman's ax.

He was reloading his AK-74 as he waited for me to get closer. I looked down to pull some bandages out of my first-aid kit and when I looked up he was pointing the AK at my face. I was standing three feet from where he was sitting.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"When you and your friends are dead, Chiron will make us the new Strike Team," he said gritting his teeth from the pain in his shoulder. "It will be a shame that you will not be able to witness the New Age."

I was furious, "Your working for Castellan?"

"As you might say 'damn straight'. We will tear apart your little camp from the inside out," he said grinning even though he was still bleeding from his shoulder. "Now, prepare to die." he pulled his trigger and I waited for his rounds to split me in half.

CLICK! I smiled, I knew that rifle was going to kill him one day. I dropped my trauma kit and went for my 1911. Fyoder un-slung his AK and picked up the ax. I was just about to pull the trigger on my 1911 but he hit the gun out of my hands with the side of the ax-head. I drew my Ka-Bar and turned it around in my hand.

"Lets rock. You son of a bitch," I said.

We backed up into the hallway and Fyoder tried an over-the-head chop with the ax. I side stepped but tripped on the dead corpse of the monster that we killed. I landed on my back which I hated doing. Fyoder tried another swing with the ax. I had to spread my legs just as the blade impaled the linoleum floor right under my crotch. For a split second I felt like Jason Statham but the feeling quickly faded as Fyoder went for my sternum with the ax. I rolled to my right and stood up.

I was standing next to him and I elbowed the Russian in the face. He stumbled and I put my knife to his throat as I tackled him. I held my knife to his throat but he managed to punch me in the jaw. I got flipped off of him and I got to my feet and so did he. He bolted for his AK and I picked up my M16 from the sling, dropping my bayonet. I hopped over the counter onto a receptionists desk. I reloaded my M16 as fast as I could and waited.

Fyoder came around the side of the desk and pointed his AK at me. He tried his trigger but it just went CLICK! He jumped out of the way as I opened fire on the wall that he was just in front of. Stood up just to see him run down the left long hallway. He was moving for the other weapon at the end of the hospital. I followed him in the right hallway.

We sprinted down our respective hallways and exchanged rounds through the lateral hallways. Apparently, he finally got his gun to shoot. I stopped as to trick Fyoder into coming after me. I stopped right at a intersection behind the wall. A receptionists desk wrapped around and radiused the corner greatly. If Fyoder was smart, he'd weave behind the desk and try to chop me head off. I waited and listened for footsteps. I heard his boots squeal on the linoleum floor and turn down the lateral hallway that I was standing next to.

Fyoder kept his feet quiet on the floor as he walked up. It was hard to judge where he was. I stepped back a few feet and shouldered my rifle. When he popped around the corner, I wanted to be ready to pull the trigger.

The first thing that came around the corner was that ax. It swung around and got stuck in the wall about a foot from my face. I sidestepped from the wall and put the reticle on Fyoder's face. He pulled the ax from the wall and knocked my M16 to the right.

He hopped over the counter and put his shoulder into me and pushed me back. My sling broke and my M16 fell to the floor, I was weaponless. We landed in a hospital room and I pushed Fyoder off of me. We stood up and faced off. He tried to roundhouse kick me in my left thigh but I caught his ankle in between my calf and the back of my thigh. I fell over and took him with me. Before I could elbow him, he stuck the handle of the ax in my chest, knocking the wind out of me.

Fyoder stood up and held the ax in his hands. We were both breathing heavily and paused momentarily. He had his back to the door of the room so I couldn't see around him. He was still bleeding but he had no intention of treating his wound. The loss of blood was starting to affect him. His eyes were glazed over and his face was pale. I was still on the floor with my hand on my stomach.

"You should just give up," he said.

"Fuck you! I'll give up when I'm dead," I replied.

"If you say so," he came back as he hoisted the ax above his head.

Just as the ax came down, a silenced sub-machine gun opened fire behind him and he was hit with a volley of rounds in the back. The rounds crawled up his back and into his neck and the back of his head which exploded in a cloud of pink mist, brain matter and skull fragments. The rounds past through and impaled themselves into the wall above my head. His now lifeless corpse dropped the ax and I had to slide back a few feet to avoid the body laying over on top of me.

Dasha was standing there holding one of her MP5k's in her hands. Smoke was still flowing out of the barrel. Evidently, the barrel was pointed at my chest. She fell to her knees and started bawling. She just shot her boyfriend to protect me. At that point, I thought that their whole team turned on us. Evidently, I was wrong again. Brandon walked in behind her with my M16, 1911 and Ka-Bar. He laid the items on the ground next to him and knelt down next to Dasha. He put his arms around her shoulders but didn't say anything. Dasha sat there in his arms crying, still staring at her dead boyfriend.

Dasha eventually pulled herself together enough to stand up. We walked out into the hallway after I gathered my M16, 1911 and Ka-Bar. That's when my heart sank.

David was walking down the hallway towards us. He wasn't holding his M110 or anything else for that matter. His hands were tied behind his back and the hood on his ghillie suit was knocked back. His weapons were being carried by two guards, both dracaenae. I raised my M16 and double-tapped the snake-women and watch them explode into dust and smoke. Then, I used my knife to cut him loose.

"Thanks," he said, picking up his weapons. "She on our side now?"

"Yeah," responded Brandon.

Then I heard the voice that belonged to someone I loathed. "Put your weapons down and turn 'round."

My grip tightened on my M16 but I set it down on the floor and slowly turned around. My step-brother, Kyle, was standing there with his jet-black FN Herstal SCAR-L pointed right at my face.

Kyle was big but only about as tall as Brandon, about five-ten. He had brown hair and two lateral scars, one on his cheek and the other was on the side of his neck. He wore black BDU's and a black plate carrier. He wore a Kevlar helmet without night vision. Even his boots and gloves were black. Him and his dad both had the same Cajun accent whereas mine was a little different.

"How you doin', Little Bro?" he asked.

"I ain't your bro. We ain't even kin!" I responded. "I told you that if I ever saw you again, I was going to kill you."

"I know," he said, obviously aloof. "Shouldn't you introduce me to your friends?"

I stomped my foot. "Brandon, David, Dasha this is my shit-bag step-brother, Kyle. I'm sure his shit-bag father is around here somewhere," I said.

"How you guys doin'?" asked Kyle.

"Been better," said David.

"That's too bad," responded Kyle, still pointing his SCAR at me. His eyes never left me as he stared down his sights. He pressed a button on the chord that ran from his radio to his headset. "I need four armed guards in the West long hallway."

Kyle and his father were mortal, so he couldn't see through the Mist like the rest of us. I don't think he knew who he was really working for or cared.

We waited around for a minute when two hellhounds, a dracaenae and a Laistrygonian giant walked around the corner. The hellhounds were perfect twins, they both had the same black fur and the same fiery eyes. The snake-woman had two bronze swords and a bronze breast plate.

"And this is where we part, Little Bro," said Kyle.

"You don't see who they are?" asked Brandon.

"Who, these guards?" he asked back. "Well that's Janine with the two combat knives, those are her two dobermans and this is Big Jimmy."

I smiled at Kyle's ignorance, he had no clue. The dracaenae, Janine I figured, poked one of her "combat knives" which was really her sword into my back and I started walking. Big Jimmy picked up my M16 and used it to herd us like cattle. The four of us walked in a line, I was on the far right, Brandon was next to me with Dasha and David next to him. Kyle didn't come with us.

I was looking down each horizontal hallway as we walked. At one point, I saw two PMC carrying a big black box that was probably three feet wide, two feet tall and two and a half feet deep. There was a laptop computer sitting, screen open, on top of the box as the two PMC walked with the contraption.

"That's got to be the other weapon," I whispered to Brandon who saw the black box as well.

"You ready to drop these guards?" he asked.

I didn't even answer, I just turned around and drew my 1911 which Kyle had forgotten about. I switched it off safety and dropped the giant before he could shoot me with my own gun. Then I double-tapped the dracaenae. Meanwhile, Brandon drew his M9 and shot the first hellhound. All at the same time, Dasha reached around and pulled my Ka-Bar out of my sheath and stabbed the other hellhound in the base of its skull. All four monsters exploded as they were hit.

"We got to get that box," I said as I picked up my M16 and reholstered my 1911.

"I'll be right back," announced David as he ran back down the hallway to grab his guns. Kyle had left and it was clear from there.

When he came back with his weapons and Dasha's MP5k, we crossed to the other side of the grid. I took point as I shouldered my M16. We hugged the inside wall as we walked down the hallway. We went all the way down to the end and found nobody.

"I guess we are going topside," I said as I moved towards one of the many shafts that lead to the abandoned trailer park above ground. "David, go grab one of those beds from the room over there," I said pointing to one of the rooms.

The rest of us covered him as he walked into the room and rolled the bed out into the hallway. I think David was a little disappointed in himself for getting caught and I couldn't blame him. The bed was slammed through the door so hard that the wheels came up off the ground.

David had trained hard to not be seen when he's in the woods. I felt that I had trained him well by using camouflage. Of course, both Brandon and David were hard on themselves when they didn't succeed at something that they had trained for, I'm not sure why.

He put the bed right under the shaft and we all helped lock the wheels into place to keep the bed from rolling out from under us.

"Ladies first," said Brandon.

Dasha climbed up onto the bed and reached for the first rung. She grabbed it with ease and hoisted herself to the second rung. She kept going until her feet met the first rung, then it was real easy from there. Next was Brandon and then David. It was awkward trying to find a way to carry my M16 as I climbed. I ended up sandwiching the rifle in between my plate carrier and my chest. It seemed to work as I climbed back up the ladder.

When I made it to the top, I pulled my M16 out from inside my plate carrier. We came up in one of the double-wides, everybody else was outside, I assumed. I walked outside to see a firefight going on. It was still pouring down rain and I ripped my eye protection off and tossed them to the side. I could always get new ones later. The opposition consisted of mostly PMC, dracaenae, and Telekhine's. It looked as if they were trying to get away in several jeeps and Humvees. I stayed in the trailers doorway as I tried to find my friends. That's when my heart sank and I got really pissed off all at the same time.

David, Dasha and Brandon were taking cover behind an eighties Chevy El Camino with an American flag paint job on it. Brandon was hit in the left shoulder, bullet wound like Fyoder had only a little closer to his lungs. Dasha was applying pressure to the wound using some bandages from his first-aid kit, which was good but Brandon should never of gotten hit in the first place.

"Have you guys radioed to KATE yet?" I asked as I started to engage the enemy with my M16.

"Yeah, already taken care of. She's on her way," responded David as he used his M110 to pick off several Tango's down range.

"Sorry, I got hit, Big Luke," said Brandon who was looking pretty pale from blood loss. Fyoder was definitely better when it came to getting shot.

"Don't worry about it, Dude. You just stay with us, alright?" I asked but it felt more like begging.

"You got it, Boss," he replied with a thumbs up.

The opposition was now loaded up and on their way out. I tried to aim for the tires but I missed. I heard KATE's engine scream behind me as she pulled into the trailer park by parallel parking right behind the El Camino.

"OK, David up front. Brandon and Dasha in the back," I said as I ran across the trailer park.

I put my M16 in the trunk while KATE flipped the front driver seat up so Brandon and Dasha could climb in the back. David got in the passenger seat and I climbed in the driver seat. I stuck the car in first and powered out of the trailer park down the same path as the Humvees. Our opposition had a good three minutes on us but that shouldn't be a problem with KATE's tremendous speed.

"Mom?" I heard Brandon say from the back seat.

"He's delusional," said Dasha. "You got any water or fluids?"

Dasha was still applying pressure to the wound with some now completely red bandages. She had this plane look on her face but her eyes were all puffy from crying earlier. The glove box opened and a clear plastic bottle of Aquafina rolled into David's lap. David handed it back to Dasha and she unscrewed the the cap. Brandon took the bottle and tried to drink but most of the water rolled onto his shirt.

We followed the tire tracks to the freeway where we saw them disappear down the road. Traffic was insane and I had to drive on the inside shoulder to make any progress in the pursuit. The torrential down pour seemed to follow us as we drove.


	15. Chapter 15

David

I was shocked when Brandon got shot. We were running for cover behind the American flag car and Brandon was in front of me. All of a sudden, he was spun around counter clockwise. The shot came out of nowhere. He didn't even scream out in pain, he just had this shocked look on his face. He spun one and a half revolutions to face me. I never let up on my sprint. I tackled him as we were not too far from the car. I apologized immediately and commenced to shooting at the enemy.

Now, we were racing down the freeway on the shoulder at around two-hundred miles per hour and climbing. The windshield wipers were moving back and fourth constantly to keep up with the torrential downpour, never getting a break. The rain clouds seemed to follow us and I was starting to see lightning dance across the blackening clouds. I was starting to get worried because the shoulder was so narrow that if I rolled down my window and stuck my arm out, I could break it on one of the many parked cars that were clogging up the highway. Big Luke held his arm on the wheel with such steadiness that it was mind boggling but he could also react and correct our path as the road changed.

Eventually, we came across the reason why the traffic was backed up. One of the jeeps had collided with an eighteen wheeler and the semi was jackknifed across the road, blocking all means of getting around the scene, even for us being on the shoulder. I shut my eyes as to not see what would happen next.

"Dukes it," said Big Luke and I felt the front end of the Charger lift up of the ground.

I felt we were on roller coaster and I opened my eyes. All I saw was the dark, cloudy sky. Then the car tilted and all I saw was the road ahead of us which was clear of all traffic with the exception of the remaining two jeeps and two Humvees and a big freaking plane. The car landed hard on the pavement and we got knocked around in the seats a little bit. KATE just kept on moving after her tires regained traction.

The motorcade was lined up in a single file line behind the big plane which now on the freeway. I knew what they were planning because we had pulled the same stunt last summer on our exfil back to camp. They were going to drop the ramp on the back of the plane and drive each car into the cargo hold. Then the plane would take off from the freeway.

The plane was huge, about two-hundred to two-hundred fifty feet long with a slightly shorter wingspan. It was gray and had four engines, two on each wing. The main fuselage was wider than it was tall.

"That's a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy," said Big Luke as we accelerated towards the airplane. "Two-hundred, forty-seven feet long with a two-hundred, twenty-two foot wingspan. 380,000 pounds and has a 51,140 gallon fuel tank. Take off speed is around one-hundred, seventy miles per hour."

"How do you know all that off the top of your head?" asked Brandon who was still looking pale.

"It's a son of Hephaestus thing. I could probably fly it if you put me in the pilot's seat," replied Big Luke.

"When was its first flight?" asked Dasha.

"I know tech specs and how to fly the damn thing. I don't know history."

"That's great and all but what are we going to do?" I asked.

"_We _are not going to do anything," he looked at Brandon briefly through the rear-view mirror. "I'm getting on that plane."

"No, we do this as a team," I tried to sound confident but I couldn't pull it off like Big Luke could.

He turned and looked me straight in the eye, "Have you seen Brandon lately? Well, in case you haven't, he got fucking shot! I'm not going to let that happen to both of you. Your staying in this damn car and covering me. Got it?"

That was the third time in the last thirty-six hours that Big Luke raised his voice in anger and I didn't like it. Brandon's shocked face was back. His jaw was on the floor and he was scowling. Brandon looked up to Big Luke and seeing him crack like this was confusing him.

By this time, the ramp on the C-5 was down and the motorcade was loading up. We pulled up next to the last Humvee in line on the left. Big Luke looked into the Humvee and gritted his teeth. When I looked, I saw Kyle from earlier and some guy with salt and pepper hair, thin frame and this evil grin sitting in the seat next to Kyle. Big Luke's right hand, which was sitting on the center console tightened into a fist. His knuckles cracked as he curled his fingers. The Humvee tried to run off us the road but Big Luke dropped a gear and floored the accelerator before they hit us. We shot past them and they swerved behind us.

"Jon Luke, I don't scratch or get dirty because I am covered with a high tech ceramic coating," said KATE.

"Right. Forgot," replied Big Luke. "Time to play cop."

"Who is that guy with Kyle?" I asked.

"It's my step-dad, Jon," he replied.

Big Luke swerved to the right and slammed on the brakes. Kyle's Humvee shot past us and Big Luke got back on the throttle. The Humvee swerved all over the road trying to avoid us but it was no use. Big Luke put the edge of KATE's left, front fender on the Humvees rear bumper. He pushed the car to the left and the back end of the Humvee lost traction. When the truck went broadside, the wheels got caught on the pavement somehow and began rolling. Big Luke dropped the transmission a gear again and powered the car around the flipping automobile.

Big Luke peeked out the back window with the rear-view mirror. Then he said something that I never thought he would ever say.

"I hope their alright."

Now, I was the confused one. Those two guys killed his mom and he hoped they were alright?

"What?" I asked.

"It's not what you think. I want to put a bullet in both of their heads. Car crash is survivable, a bullet ain't." There was the Big Luke I knew.

We kept driving for the C-5. We danced around the other cars in the motorcade and ended up on the right side of the plane by the ramp. The motorcade had now loaded up on the plane which was gaining speed. Big Luke kept pace with the plane and he checked the speedometer every few seconds. We were cruising at a comfortable one-hundred and ten miles per hour but we wouldn't stay there for long.

"KATE, retract the front windshield and get me close to the ramp," ordered Big Luke.

The windshield began sliding up into the roof of the car. Only the sides of the glass that wouldn't fit were left in place. Wind rushed into the car's cabin and I had to drop my goggles over my eyes just to keep the wind and rain out. The speedometer dropped a couple numbers and KATE retracted the back glass as well to reduce drag. Big Luke unbuckled his seat belt and started to climb out onto the hood of the car.

"I'm going to need my gun too. KATE," yelled Big Luke over the sound of the wind and rain.

The deck lid popped open but it opened the wrong way so we could see into the trunk. Two metal arms holding Big Luke's M16 cocked back as if they were about to throw the rifle towards us. And that's exactly what they did. The rifle flew over the roof right over us. Big Luke caught his rifle out of the air and checked he ammunition in the magazine, fully loaded. The deck lid closed shut and the car moved closer to the landing ramp. That's when I got an idea.

"Why can't you just drive up the ramp and we can help out from the car?" I asked Big Luke who was staring at the approaching ramp.

"Because when that plane comes down, I don't want you guys on it," he replied. Then he jumped.

He landed on the ramp just as it started to close. The plane was big enough that the motorcade had probably parked deeper in the plane. So, Big Luke didn't have to shoot anyone or anything yet. The ramp was at its closed position and the plane started to gain even more speed.

I looked at the accelerator pedal and watched it move itself to the floor. When the engine hit top end, the clutch pedal moved itself to the floor and the gas pedal let off. The shifter moved to the next gear all on its own and the clutch was disengaged and the gas was reapplied. I noticed that KATE could accelerate faster than the C-5.

"KATE, get me next to the door next to the cockpit. And I'm going to need you to open it too," I asked.

KATE swerved and motored up next to the door. I wasn't sure how I was going to get on yet but I had a few ideas. If I could get the ladder to drop, I could climb it and board the plane that way, or I could shoot a harpoon through the door and climb the cable into the fuselage.

"What are you going to do?" asked Dasha who was trying to help Brandon drink his water.

"I'm going in after him," I replied.

"He said to stay here."

"You know as well as I do that boarding that plane was a suicide mission. Someone has to watch his back," I said as I unbuckled from my seat and started climbing out onto the hood of the car.

The hood was slick and hard to stand on. I had to put one knee down to keep from slipping. I took Brandon's 416 with me and left my M110. I figured that would be a better choice to couple with my MP7 sub-machine gun. I was constantly wiping the water off my goggles so I could see. I tried not to think about the two gigantic turbine engines behind me on the wing of the aircraft that could potentially suck me into them at any given moment.

"I have hacked into the C-5 Galaxy's on-board computer and attempting to open the door remotely," said KATE.

We were right next to the plane. The base of the door was about five feet from the top of my head. I was definitely going to need some kind of boost up.

All of a sudden the door swung open and the ladder dropped. I was thankful because a cable was way too risky. Before I could reach for the first rung and started climbing I felt something tug on my leg.

"Good luck, bro. Get our friend back," said Brandon who apparently fought his way to the front seat of the car to get my attention.

"See you on the ground," I replied and started to climb.

I made it all the way to the door and hauled myself inside. I raised the 416 and looked around, nobody in my immediate sight. I figured that the opposition had moved up to the normal passenger seating. I left the door open in case I needed to get out in a hurry.

I got on my radio, "Hawkeye to Red 5: you around?"

I didn't get anything in response, he must have turned his radio off... or something worse.

I kept looking around. The walls had no insulation and I could see the ribs of the airplane mounted right to the sheet metal. The floor was some kind of metal, probably steel or aluminum. The ceiling was flat. The normal seating was right above us. Most of the things in the cargo hold were crates and boxes. There were several jeeps and Humvees, a lot more than the original motorcade had. There was also a single World War II style Sherman Tank.

It was the same color as my plate carrier, Olive Drab, with a big, white, five-pointed star painted on the side and on the front. It was weird that these guys had all these modern vehicles and weapons, why would they use a World War II tank that is practically obsolete? It looked as if it hadn't been used in a while. The tank was covered in dust and there were things setting on it as if it was a table. There was a blue tarp draped over the barrel of the main gun.

I peeked in several of the cockpits of the vehicles and couldn't find anything that looked like the big black box that we saw earlier. I moved on to one car and peeked into the window. I felt hand on my shoulder and I got spun around. Big Luke was staring down at me from his six-four height compared to my five-six height. I knew Big Luke was my friend and all but that doesn't mean that he wasn't intimidating as all Hades sometimes.

"Hey," I squeaked.

"I told you to wait with KATE," he replied coldly.

"And let you have all the fun? Naw, I couldn't do that," I tried to joke.

Big Luke wasn't hearing it. "Damn it, I told you to stay with KATE. Is Brandon up here too?"

"Nope, just us two."

He turned around and I saw something new on his back. Two things actually. One was a lever-action pistol with wood grips. The other weapon was a double-barrel shotgun with a pump. The thing had two ejection ports on each side and looked extremely heavy.

"Where did those come from?" I asked pointing to the new weapons strapped to the side of his backpack.

"I found them in one of the trucks. They were from the monster down in the hospital. I'll tell you more about it later," he responded as he started pulling tarps off of of crates and boxes. "I think they brought the weapon up with them. We need to get up there."

"There is a small army up there," I said. "What do you want to do? We have probably forty-five seconds before the plane gets off the ground."

"Or less," he replied.

We heard something towards the front of the plane. We raised our rifles and moved in to see what the noise was. We stepped around crates and Humvees with sights on the general direction of our target. We kept no less than three yards in between us so we were not in one clump in case of an ambush. What we saw at the bottom of a step ladder going up to the normal seating area was two Telekhine's wielding short swords and shields. They had their backs towards us as we raised our rifles.

We both pulled our triggers at the same time and put a small volley of rounds into the monsters. They exploded in a cloud of smoke and golden monster dust. We took a quick knee by a crate and planned our next move.

"How do you want to do this?" asked Big Luke.

"What about we try that tactic we used last summer? Where we breach from two different ends and meet in the middle," I responded.

"We don't have that kinda time. What about some kind of diversion?" Big Luke suggested.

We felt the plane shudder as if it was about to take off.

"Too late," we said simultaneously as we sprinted up the ladder to the second floor.

What we saw scared the crap out of me. At least seventy or eighty monsters, PMC, and anything else that would want to kill us were facing towards the back of the plane in the seats. Behind us was the cockpit with two pilots.

Big Luke was in front of me and turned around in place. He shewed me back down the ladder. There was way too many of them and we didn't have enough ammo.

When we got back to the cargo hold, Big Luke started sprinting for the back of the plane. I had to follow Big Luke as he weaved in and around crates and vehicles. We made it to the big door which doubled as the loading ramp. Big Luke started pressing buttons and pulling levers that were on a control panel next to the door. The ramp popped from the frame of the aircraft and started lowering itself to the pavement below. I was thrown backward slightly as the plane started to slow down.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"What I should have done in the first place," I wasn't sure what he was talking about. "They can't take off with the ramp down. Hopefully, every one up there comes down to see what the problem is. KATE drives up the ramp and we surprise them with some M61 action."


	16. Chapter 16

_**Author's Note:**__** Disclaimer: I just want to make it absolutely clear that I have never been high before in my life. Well, there was that one time before i went under for surgery but that was medically induced. Anyway, Enjoy! And please, write a review. I'm not looking for much but i would really like some feedback on these characters. So far only one person has written one and - not that i don't respect his opinion which i do- i would just like some more from other people. Thanks!**_

Brandon

I was sitting in the back seat of the Charger with Dasha as Big Luke and David were on the C-5 Galaxy. Dasha was giving me some kind of medication that was making me all psychedelic. At first everything was rainbow colored. I felt no pain in my shoulder or chest and my face was numb. All of a sudden, everything turned green and white.

"Wow, why is everything green?" I said sitting next to Dasha.

"Because you put your night vision down, Silly," she said with a little chuckle.

She pulled my NVG off from over my eyes and took my helmet off. Everything went back to being rainbow colored again. She had this beautiful smile on her face as she fiddled with some bandages for my shoulder. For some reason her face was the only thing that was normally colored. Her hair had stopped blowing around since the windows were put back in place.

"You're pretty," I said dreamily.

"You're high, but thank you," she said with another chuckle. "Here, hold this."

She handed me some medical tape and I held onto it.

"Your wish is my command," I replied.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Out of nowhere, the car swerved to the right and the back of the plane started coming towards us. The ramp was down and Big Luke and David were standing on it. KATE drove herself up onto the ramp and stopped right as her back wheels were on the platform.

"KATE, I need you to load up two of the M61's with standard ammunition. Leave the monster rounds in the others. Don't start shooting until I tell you to," instructed Big Luke.

"As you wish, Jon Luke," KATE replied.

KATE popped the doors and Big Luke and David pulled them out to ninety degrees to use as cover. The windows rolled down and they knelt down and rested their weapons on the tops of the doors. I noticed that David had borrowed my 416. I didn't mind... but he could of asked.

"I love this part," I said as the first monsters stepped out from behind the crates.

Big Luke gave the order to open fire. Monsters of all shapes and sizes exploded in rainbows and purple smoke. I was still a bit loopy from the medication. The M61's spewed lead and Celestial Bronze like fire hoses... literally. The drugs were making it look like four old style fire hoses with conical nozzles slithered up like snakes but instead of water, it was a steady stream of bullets flying at the small army that was now shooting back at us. The PMC that is, all the monsters just took cover as they had nothing to shoot back with. Big Luke and David returned fire on full-auto.

Dasha tried to take cover behind the front seat as much as possible but I just sat in the middle of the back seat, watching the rounds bounce harmlessly of the body of the Charger. Not even a dent appeared on the body of the car. My face was still numb but I think I had this big goofy grin on my face.

Our rounds going ahead of us just tore the plane apart. The fuselage looked like Swiss cheese, there was no way it was going to take off but we continued to thunder down the road at what seemed like a thousand miles an hour.

It wasn't long until we stopped receiving fire from the opposition. KATE stopped shooting and Big Luke poked his head in the car.

"You doin' OK?" he asked.

"Yeah, doing great with these drugs that Dasha gave me," I replied.

He smiled for the first time in what seemed like forever and walked back into the plane with David. The plane was now starting to slow down and coast. Either the pilots gave up or got shot. Dasha sat back up on the seat.

"I guess it's all over," she said.

"Well, not quite. We still need to get back to camp and I need to get better before I go back home for school," I replied.

"How come?" she asked.

"Because my dad doesn't know that I'm on the Strike Team," I replied.

"My father still thinks that I'm fighting for the Red Army," she said.

"One thing that I don't get," I started. "How did you guys end up at Camp Half-Blood?"

"Well, things work a little differently in Russia. There are still demigods just not as many because Russia isn't really a part of Western Civilization. Most of them make their way into the military or police force. Chiron found us on deployment in Greece and asked us to come to America. And that's how we end up here."

"Mhm," I replied.

All of a sudden the plane started braking and pulled over on the side of the road as if it had broken down or something. KATE backed herself off the ramp as we saw Big Luke carrying the big purple box with the laptop that we saw earlier and David had somebody in a bright orange BDU flex-cuffed walking next to him. I'm sure the purple box wasn't really purple and the BDU wasn't really orange but that's what the drugs were making me see.

David had his hand on the guys shoulder blade but his arm was underneath his captives so he could apply torque to the shoulder at any time simply by pushing on the guys arm. David took the guy over to the gravel next to the shoulder of the highway. He put the guy on his face and pointed my rifle at his captive.

Big Luke set the big purple box on the ground in front of KATE and Dasha and I got out. The wind and rain seemed to be slowing up and Dasha and I were no longer shivering.

"So, this is it? This is what Brandon got shot for?" asked Big Luke, probably to nobody in particular.

Upon further inspection of the box, I noticed that there were several blue and red lights and circuits all over it. On the top was a round hole about a foot deep with a hemisphere at the bottom. There was a cable that plugged into the laptop and on the top of the box.

Big Luke knelt down in front of the laptop and started to fiddle with it.

"Damn, it's password protected," he announced.

"Well, so what? The mission was to destroy it right?" asked Dasha.

"Your trying to tell me that you aren't the least bit curious as to what this boat anchor is?" asked Big Luke looking Dasha right in the eye.

I don't think that Big Luke was trying to be snappy at her, he was just upset that I got shot. He took that kind of stuff to heart and it tore him apart sometimes.

"Well, sure but it's not necessary," she answered.

"I may have an idea," I suggested, raising my hand as if I was in school. "It could be some kind of weather device."

Big Luke raised one eyebrow as if I was getting to something. "Maybe," he said.

"What if the password is the person that killed his wife?" suggested David from twenty yards away. "Using that as his password keeps his motivation in mind."

Instantly, Big Luke started typing wildly on the keyboard on the laptop trying every possible version of the name Max Kites.

"Hey, hey! We're in," he announced. "I think you're right, Brandon. He's got this program that looks a lot like Google Earth only it's got all these icons on the side with some nasty forms of weather. We're lucky it just rained. We could have been caught in a tornado or a hurricane or something worse."

"Out of everything he could have built: bombs, guns, whatever; why would he build a weather machine?" I asked.

"If you can make certain areas of the trail so uninhabitable, then you can funnel your enemy into any ambush you chose. What better way then weather?" suggested David who was still covering the guy in the bright orange BDU.

"Or he just wanted to play God against his enemies," suggested Dasha. "I don't think the target was Camp Half-Blood in the first place."

Big Luke was about to open his mouth to say something but was stopped by the sound of police sirens. I turned around and saw six cop cars in the distance racing towards us. Their lights shimmered through the mirage off the pavement.

"That's our Que," I said as Big Luke hoisted the weather device into KATE's trunk.

David left the guy on the ground and everybody climbed in the car. KATE started her engine and we were off. Or so I thought. We actually started driving towards the police cars. I was sure that Big Luke had gone crazy at this point.

"Um, Big Luke? This really isn't the time to play chicken with the police," suggested David.

"I gotta see if they made it or not," replied Big Luke referring to Kyle and Jon.

We were rocketing down the stretch of freeway towards the police cars coming at us. The cop cars came to a stop into a makeshift road block that was uneven and full of holes. At two-hundred miles an hour, those holes didn't quite look big enough for the boat of a car that we were in. But that didn't stop Big Luke.

Big Luke had to downshift just to weave the Charger through three of the police cars. Then he yanked on the parking brake and spun the car around. He threw the car in Reverse and weaved in and around the other three cop cars. I was tossed around in the back seat and the same sharp pain in my shoulder was back.

"OOOOOWWWWWWWWW!" I screamed as my shirt started to get wet from my blood again.

My shoulder wound had reopened and brought the pain with it. I wasn't completely sure but I thought I was bleeding worse than before. Dasha then confirmed my fear.

"His wound has reopened and I think he's bleeding out worse than before. He's blacking out!" I heard Dasha yell from right next to me.

Then I blacked out.

When my eyes opened again, Dasha was trying to pour water into my mouth but in my semiconscious state, I didn't try to swallow it. My head was in Dasha's lap as I stared up at the roof of the car.

"He won't drink it," I heard Dasha yell.

"Do you have any IV's?" asked David.

"No!" responded Big Luke. "I forgot to pack them. Gods damn it!"

I wanted to say that it was alright and that I wasn't a huge needle fan anyway but it ended up coming out as a gurgle and I blacked out again.

I'm sure they considered using ambrosia and nectar but I was way too weak to use it. If they were to give me some, I'd probably burn up.

I started to feel like I was going to die. Constantly slipping in and out of consciousness and the amount of blood I was losing was starting to scare me. My entire life flashed through my mind until there was this bright light. That's pretty much when I started to accept the fact that I was dying. I felt as if my body was being drawn to the light. Just as I was about to slip through, I was yanked back to consciousness with a jolt.

My eyelids were forced open and I saw Dasha kneeling over me with two defibrillator paddles in her hands. I was laying on the pavement next to KATE who was idling at a dead stop. My orange camp shirt was torn open. David had the deck lid open and was rifling through all of the gear to try to find something. Big Luke was off the side of the road and was tearing some of the local wildlife to pieces as he cussed at himself.

I couldn't catch my breath. I was breathing so heavily I felt that my lung would pop.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," said Dasha after she took a big sigh of relief.

"I died?" I asked in between breaths.

"Yeah. I had to give you mouth-to-mouth before David could get the paddles out," she replied.

"I wish I could have been awake for that," I said as I tried to sit up but fell right back down again after the pain in my shoulder had returned.

"You need to take it easy," suggested Dasha.

David squatted down next to me. "How you doing?"

"Been better," I replied.

"OK, well. We'll get you fixed up," he told me. "I better go talk to Big Luke before he tears the whole forest apart."

He got up and walked over to Big Luke who had ventured quite a ways into the bush. I looked back at Dasha.

"So, where are the cops?"

"We lost them a while ago. Big Luke never found those two guys in the Hummer," she replied with a gleam in her eye.

"Oh, well, thanks for saving my life," I said.

I forced myself to sit up and lean in to kiss her but she pulled away and I fell over into her lap. I don't know why, it just felt right. I might had still been high.

"Ouch," I said. "Thanks for leaving me hanging."

"I've kissed you enough today," she replied.

"It doesn't count if I wasn't awake for it," I complained, my face still in her lap.

"It does for me," she said.

Big Luke and David came back after a little while. Big Luke still looked pretty steamed. He didn't even look at me. He wanted to avoid facing his mistake as much as possible. David walked over and him and Dasha helped me to my feet. We got back in the car and Big Luke started driving for camp.


	17. Chapter 17

Brandon

It didn't take long for us to get back to camp. Big Luke drove night and day and as fast as possible. He just didn't care about traffic or cops. He just wanted to get home.

The first place we went to was the Kill House. When we got there, I was shocked at what I saw. The entire building was engulfed in flames. I figured the underground shop would've been completely scorched if it wasn't for the concrete floor. If it couldn't get any worse, Mathew could be heard screaming inside.

"Somebody help me! They're in here!"

"Stay here," ordered Big Luke.

He stopped the car and got out as fast as he could. He ran up to the front door and put his shoulder into it for it to open. He drew his 1911 and moved inside. Several gunshots sounded from the burning Kill House as Big Luke opened fire.

At one point during the scuffle, an enemy demigod was thrown out the front door. When he stood up in his full battle armor and brandishing a large bronze sword, he was peppered by about four or five shots from Big Luke's 1911.

The rounds passed right through his breastplate like a hot knife through butter. He dropped his sword and fell over backwards. We were facing the right side of the building so all of the rounds were flying away from us.

Next thing I knew, Big Luke was walking out of the Kill House with his 1911 in one hand and he was helping Mathew walk with the other. The slide on his 1911 was locked back and smoke was still flowing out of the barrel. Mathew was limping as he dragged a bronze sword that was way too big for him in the dirt. They hobbled over to the front of the Charger and Mathew sat on the hood. Big Luke was just scowling, even after shooting a fellow demigod five times, he wasn't really traumatized at all.

"Where's your sister?" he asked Mathew who was hacking up a lung.

"Helping to fight the invasion," he replied between coughs.

Apparently, we had showed up just in time for an invasion on camp. After helping Mathew into the shotgun seat, Big Luke gave David the order to set up shop and start engaging targets closer to camp. He had ordered KATE to keep Dasha, Mathew and I in the car and keep us out of danger. Dasha would have to help Mathew with his leg.

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"I'm going to go in and kick some ass," he replied in the calmest tone.

"What about the Kill House?"

"Let it burn," he said as he picked up a few more magazines out of the door pocket and stormed off towards camp.

As he walked, he stripped his helmet off his head and reloaded his 1911. He just dropped the helmet on the ground as if it was just an empty beer can. David hurried behind him with his M110 and the hood up on his ghillie suit.

"He is so reckless," observed Dasha.

"Most of the time, you'd be right. But right now he's just really pissed off," said Mathew, wincing at his leg as he sat in the shotgun seat.

I was somewhat stable at this point so Dasha climbed over the center console into the driver's seat. She started to inspect his leg and eventually made her way down to his ankle where he winced.

"Well, I think you have a sprained ankle," she informed him.

"OK, never done that before," replied Mathew.

"What were you in the Red Army, anyway?" I asked.

"I was a medic. That's why I offered to take care of you so David could board the plane," she explained.

KATE had turned herself around so we were no longer staring at the dead demigod on the ground where a pool of blood was starting to form around his body, or the burning building for that matter. I started to think, which might have been a bad thing.

Was Big Luke going to terminate the Strike Team after I got shot? Was Chiron going to terminate it because I got shot? What were we going to do with the weather machine?

"So, I guess I know why Big Luke is so angry," mentioned Mathew, referring to my shot-to-shit shoulder.

"Yeah," I said, practically laughing at myself. "KATE, do you have anymore UAV's?"

"In fact; I do have one left," she replied.

I glanced back at the filler cap and watched as it sunk into the quarter panel and another one popped up in its place. The new filler cap sprouted legs and walked over to the middle of the deck lid and waited for further instructions. A black screen appeared over the windshield.

"Can you fly it yourself?" I asked.

"Yes, I can."

"OK, find Big Luke and watch him," I said.

All of a sudden, the black screen later became a birds eye view of the Charger's deck lid. Then the rest of the Charger. Then it was nothing but forest and then we saw Big Luke.

He was really kicking some monster tail. He had his 1911 in one hand and his Ka-Bar in the other as he shot and stabbed at anything in front of him. Monster dust, blood and bodies littered his warpath. The guy was a tank with legs.

At one point, Big Luke saw Brittany being cornered against a tree by three enemy demigods. She was wearing a breastplate but her hair was messed up like she once had a helmet on her head but she had lost it somehow. She had a thin cut across her forearm and looked scared half to death.

Big Luke could be seen on the screen yelling at the demigods to get their attention and then throwing his knife into one of the demigods shoulder. Big Luke was out of ammo and all he had was the knife that was impaled in the guy's shoulder. Brittany had a long spear but you could tell that she didn't use it very often. She also had a bronze shield known as a _hoplon_ which she hurled at Big Luke for him to use.

Big Luke ran his right arm through the straps and waited for the demigods to charge. One tried to run into him with his own shield but it didn't work. Big Luke put all his weight behind the shield and the demigod landed on his back. Big Luke stomped on the guy's neck and probably snapped it right there.

The next guy came at him with his sword but Big Luke knocked it from the guy's hand and swung the shield so the edge hit the guy in his helmet. The CLANG! could be heard all the way to our location as the guy was knocked unconscious (at least) and lost his helmet. Big Luke barely had the chance to catch his breath before the demigod with the knife in his shoulder tried to decapitate him.

He never got the opportunity. Brittany had stabbed the demigod with her spear right in one of the chinks in the guy's armor. Big Luke pulled his knife from the guy's shoulder as he fell on his face.

Brittany dropped her spear, ran up and started hugging Big Luke who was wiping the demigod's blood off the blade of his knife. Brittany had her head on his chest and her arms around his middle. Big Luke wrapped his left arm around her as the other had the knife in it.

I watched as the second demigod stood up weakly and started to charge the two huggers. I almost screamed at the screen but Big Luke had heard the guy and turned around and threw the knife again which impaled itself in the guy's forehead.

That's when Grover caused the Panic and all of the remaining warriors started running back for the entrance to the labyrinth.

I guess Big Luke could hear the UAV whirling above him because he looked right up at it and mouthed the words "Big House. Hurry" and pointed in that direction.

Instantly, KATE started her engine and raced to the Big House. We had to go back to the country road and then jumped off Half-Blood Hill and parked outside the Big House front doors. Big Luke and Brittany were waiting for us. KATE opened the doors and Big Luke practically hauled us out of the back seat.

"So, that's why he's pissed off," said Brittany to me.

"Yeah. He's none too happy," I warned her.

Big Luke walked up to the Big House doors like he was on a mission when it absolutely, positively has to be destroyed within the next five seconds. He kicked in the front doors and the one on the right fell off the hinges.

"OK, you need to calm down," Brittany told him.

Big Luke whipped around so fast, I got dizzy. "You don't tell me to calm DOWN!" he yelled at her and she flinched.

Brittany's eyes started to tear up and she ran off.

"You better go smooth that over before she starts to believe that you meant it," suggested David who had just ran up. "And the rest of camp is heading this way so KATE better scram."

"Yeah, you're probably right," replied Big Luke as he stomped his foot and ran his hand through his extremely short hair.

Before the Charger drove off, we tossed our plate carriers and guns in the seats and watched as she headed back over the hill.

"You get them in that infirmary. I'll catch up with you guys later," Big Luke told Dasha and David.

Big Luke walked off to find Brittany and David helped Mathew and I walked with Dasha into the Big House. We made our way into the infirmary and found two beds for Mathew and I. I laid down and waited.

Eventually, more and more campers started coming into the infirmary and this one girl from the Dionysus cabin took the bed next to mine. Both her left leg and her right arm were in casts as she sipped the nectar that the Apollo medics had given her.

"What happened to you?" she asked after the medics left.

"Got stabbed by a dagger," I lied.

"That looks awfully like a gunshot wound," she said.

"It was a really round dagger," I lied again.

She apparently decided not to pursue the matter any further and I just went back to staring at the ceiling. Dasha and David had left and the medics released Mathew with some ambrosia and an ankle brace. I was left to my own thoughts for the night... again.

They pulled the curtains around my bed, separating the wounded campers. I could hear the other injured people snoring away as I just stared at the wooden ceiling.

The one mental picture I couldn't get out of my head was that demigod that was thrown out of the burning Kill House. It just came out of nowhere. I knew that Big Luke is a Marine and he had probably done things like that before but that doesn't mean that he should be desensitized to it!

I heard the curtain move towards the foot of the bed and I looked towards it. Big Luke had stepped in and stood next to my bed.

"Hows it going?" he asked.

"Been better," I answered. "Say, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"How come you let the Kill House burn down?"

He stood there for a second, staring at the curtain, thinking of some kind of lie to tell me. "I was pissed off. I didn't really care anymore."

"Well, aren't we going to rebuild it?" I asked but it came out like a whimper.

"You need to focus on getting better," he replied.

"So, no, we're not," I translated.

Big Luke, for the first time that I ever saw, hung his head. After all the pressure that he held on his shoulders, he finally cracked. He didn't say a word as he left. Before he walked out though, he wrote something down on the clipboard hanging off the headrest.


	18. Chapter 18

Big Luke

Earlier that day, after I snapped at Brittany, I set out to find her. I pretty much tore apart the entire camp looking for her. I checked the Aphrodite cabin, the sword fighting arena. I even took a walk through the woods. It wasn't till late at night that I found her on top of Half-Blood Hill.

She was sitting next to her breastplate, hugging her knees. When she saw me walking up the hill, she spun around to look at the country road leaving camp. Her long blond hair shimmered in the moonlight and she had stopped crying for the moment.

I sat down next to her and she turned away from me again. I was getting the cold shoulder treatment. I didn't know what to do in this situation, I knew I had to apologize for what I did but I wasn't sure about what to do next.

"Look, Bo, I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier," I said to her back.

"That's not what I'm mad at you about," she replied.

"Well, what is it then?"

"I told you that you let your mistakes tear you apart," she said. "And you ignored that."

I sighed. "I didn't ignore you-"

Brittany whipped around so fast that I swear she was going to kill me. "Right after I told you, you said that I should go! You can never finish an important conversation! Then Brandon got hurt and now look at you!" she cut me off.

"Look, I'm sorry-"

"Yeah, I heard you the first time," she cut me off again, turning around so she faced the country road again which was the same direction that I was facing.

I sat there in silence. I had gotten cut off twice and I wasn't about to make it three. We sat there for a good long while before Brittany spoke again.

"I'm going to take Mathew and move back in with my dad," she said.

I wish I could say that I was surprised but in all truth, I saw it coming. Brittany had been trying to to get me to love her and I just kept denying it. She wanted to move on with her life without me and I understood.

"I know," I said. "Truth is, I kinda want you to move on. It's not healthy to stay where we are now."

"I'll still come back to camp next summer. I just... need a break," she replied. "Do you mind dropping us off at my dad's place?"

"Not at all," I responded. "OK, well, I better go fix that front door I kicked in. You want me to walk you to your cabin?"

"Yeah," she stood up and we started our way towards the cabins. Brittany didn't thread her arm through mine this time, we just walked. When we made it to the Aphrodite cabin, Brittany quietly opened the door as not to wake her half-siblings. She smiled at me before she walked in.

I made my way to the Big House where I proceeded to fix the door that I had knocked off the hinges. I heard a sound behind me and I dropped the screwdriver I was using, spun around on my heel and drew down on Chiron. After I realized who it was and that my 1911 was empty and wasn't going to go much good, I holstered my weapon and stood at attention.

"Sorry for drawing down on you, sir," I said.

"At ease, soldier," the centaur joked. "So, how did the operation go?"

"Well, sir," the only thing on my mind was Brandon getting shot. I had forgotten about Fyoder and the other team and the weapon that was still in KATE's trunk. "Brandon was shot. He's currently in the infirmary and is stable. We almost lost him once but we were able to resuscitate him."

"I'm sorry to hear this," he responded. "What happened to the reinforcements? I noticed that only one of them is here, Dasha."

"Yes, it turns out that Fyoder, Fadey and Bob were all working for Kronos, sir," I explained. "They had tried to kill us three only they had lost the fight. Dasha didn't realize this until Brandon told her. She basically saved my life by shooting Fyoder herself."

Chiron just held his chin and nodded as I spoke. "And what of the weapons, what happened to them?"

I gave him a full report of the weapons and the rest of the mission. I gave him the whole rundown of Dr. Speck and all of his background. I told him about the Kill House burning down and helping out where we could during the invasion. I decided to leave out the portion where I went on to the C-5 on my own. I didn't want Chiron to question my emotional and mental competency. After what had happened with Brandon and encountering John and Kyle, it all seemed far behind me, like old history.

When I was finished, Chiron nodded. "You did good, Jon Luke-"

"I've done better, sir," I cut in.

"Yes, you have. You have also done worse," he replied.

Instantly, my mind shot back to the Westover dance and last summer.

"I can't make excuses, sir."

"I know you can not. You hold yourself at too high of a standard," he told me. "You really should consider a vacation."

"With all due respect, sir: we have too much work for me to go on vacation," I told him.

"Yes, well. I'm going to go get some sleep. Like you said, we have a lot of work ahead of us," he said as he stepped away.

I finished fixing the door and went and had my short talk with Brandon. The guy was in rough shape, his shoulder was bandaged up with blood soaked bandages and his BDU shirt and his Camp Half-Blood T-shirt were both cut off. He never even took his boots off. It was amazing that nobody noticed the separate battle attire.

Just looking at the guy made me feel guilty. Last summer, if I hadn't asked Brandon and David to join the Strike Team, Brandon wouldn't have gotten shot. Of course, if the Strike Team never existed, Camp Half-Blood would be in way worse shape. But at the moment, that didn't matter.

Before I left, I wrote a "passive aggressive threat" to the medics working his case to switch out his bandages. I know that they're were some people worse off then Brandon was but not many. Being shot sucks, I would know and I just wanted Brandon to be well taken care of.

Later that night, while I slept, I had one crazy dream. I was sitting in a dark room, absolutely no light whatsoever besides this set of golden eyes staring at me from fifteen feet away. I knew exactly who they belonged to: Kronos.

"So, Jon Luke, what's the plan now? Your team hates you. They won't admit it but they blame you for getting your Engineer hurt. Had you had been there to cover them as they ran across the field, he wouldn't be in the infirmary," said the voice. The voice that belonged to Kronos that was mixed with Luke Castellan's.

For a split second, I believed him. However, it wasn't hard to snap out of.

"Your trying to get in my head, Kronos. And trust me, you sunk that ship a long time ago," I replied.

"A year is merely a blink of the eye for the immortal," he said. "I can tell that you want to run from your problems; your past. I mean, that's what you did when you joined your Marine Corps. It's your instinct to run from your problems. When the going gets tough, you quit."

"I'll tell you right now: I ain't running from you," I told him. "Hey, Castellan, if you can hear me through that thick skull of yours, you knew you couldn't beat me straight up. You had to go and meld with Kronos to protect yourself."

The eyes faded for a split second but came back as quick as they left. I had gotten my message across.

"Luke Castellan is no more," replied Kronos. "We'll be watching you, Jon Luke."

And that was the end of the dream.


	19. Chapter 19

_**Author's Note: **__**So, I know that I just posted an update like a half-hour ago but this next one is the last one of this book and I just want to get it over with. The third in my series is going to be my favorite, I think. The first and this one were pretty much a tie in my head. **_

David

It had been a few weeks since we had gotten back and the three of us were hanging out in the underground shop that was unharmed. Brandon had come a long way since his injury and was walking around but still had his right arm in a sling. Big Luke was still pissed at himself for the "failed operation" that we had. And I was just trying to get by. Dasha had left for Russia a few days ago and Brandon was only a little broken up over it.

Big Luke had put in a weight set in the shop a while ago which the team used to help keep in shape. At the moment, I was attempting to spot Big Luke as he benched. Brandon was sitting in the office chair in front of the computer, fiddling with his M9. Big Luke was just finishing his set when Brandon decided to speak:

"So, It's been two and a half weeks. When are we going to rebuild the Kill House?"

Big Luke racked the weight and sat up on the bench. I knew that we had been busy helping rebuild the camp after the invasion. The burnt down Kill House pretty much got put on the back burner.

Big Luke started running his hands through his extremely short hair. His body language and the look on his face should have been a sign that we were about to receive some bad news.

"I'm going to tell Chiron that I'm terminating the Strike Team," he finally told us.

I was shocked to say the least. Being on the Strike Team was the only excitement in my life and now I don't even have that. Brandon appeared less surprised, I think he saw this coming.

"Are you kidding me right now?" I asked.

"Not at all," Big Luke replied. "I realize that this whole thing was a mistake in the first place. If something were to happen to you guys and I had to tell your parents, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"You knew the risks when you started this," Brandon confronted Big Luke.

"I let my arrogance get in the way of that. I figured that I could train you guys well enough and keep you out of the infirmary. Obviously, I couldn't."

I was pissed. I kicked a chair before I stormed out the shop. That was how we ended our summer. Tune in next time to see if we can get our shit together. See if Big Luke could ever get it through his thick skull that the Strike Team is required if we expect to win this fucking war.

_**Author's **__**Note:**__**I might post the first chapter to the next book- When the Last Shot's Fired- either tonight or this week. if there are enough comments demanding that i post it tonight, i probably will. the next book will definitely be a lot grittier. I can guarantee some almost-smut (You'll see what i mean) and even suicide, or something like it. Possibly a major character death but we will see. I haven't even finished that one so updates will probably come out much slower as i have to work around school work and sports practices. So, please bare with me here.**_


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